Essential tremor is a neurological disorder
that causes uncontrollable shake or tremble of parts of the body. The shake
usually appears in hands first and, then gradually affects other parts of body
such as arms, head, eyelids, other muscles and even voice box (larynx). The
shake is more noticeable when the person is trying to hold a position or do
something, such as drink or writes and can be triggered by anxiety, fatigue,
caffeine, poor sleep. The cause of essential tremor is not clear, but it is believed to be linked with genetic and environmental
factors. Medications such as propranolol can reduce in tremor while produce
adverse effects with long term use. Alternative treatment such acupuncture has
shown its effective in help improve essential tremor with only minor side
effects.
Dr. C Wang colleagues in Heilongjiang
University of Chinese Medicine, China conducted a comparative study to assess
the effectiveness of zone style scalp needling acupuncture and conventional
scalp acupuncture in treating patients with essential tremor. Sixty patients
with essential tremor were randomly allocated into two equal groups, one
received zone style scalp acupuncture with body acupoints and the other
receiving standard scalp acupuncture with body style acupoints.
In the zone style scalp acupuncture
group, acupuncture needles were inserted over a wedge-shaped area around GV20
and MHN1 acupoints and applied bilaterally to the middle third portion of the
chorea tremor control area. The needles were swiftly inserted at 30o
to a depth at the epicranial aponeurosis level. The twirling technique was
applied at 200 per minute, two minutes per needle for scalp points. The
complimentary body acupoints: GB20 (Fengchi), MHN9 (Taiyang), LI11 (Quchi), TB5
(Waiguan), LI4 (Hegu), GB31 (Fengshi), GB34 (Yanglingquan), ST36 (Zusanli), SP6
(Sanyinjiao), LV3 (Taichong) were inserted perpendicularly.
In conventional acupuncture group, following
acupoints were applied: Chorea tremor control area, GV20 (Baihui), GV14
(Dazhui), GB20 (Fengchi), LI4 (Hegu), SI8 (Xiaohai), LI11 (Quchi), LI10
(Shousanli), TB5 (Waiguan). The needles were inserted perpendicularly and
twirled slightly.
In both groups, acupuncture
treatments were administered for 30 mins, once a day for six consecutive days,
each week, for total four weeks. Essential tremor scores were assessed before
and after treatment. A follow-up interview, three months follow-up after the
end of acupuncture treatments, was used to assess relapse rates.
The data showed that zone style
scalp acupuncture produced a 96% of the total effective rate, compared with 73%
(P<0.05) of total effective rate by conventional scalp acupuncture. The
relapse rate of the zone style scalp acupuncture group was 13.81% and was 45.5%
for the conventional scalp acupuncture group (P<0.05) respectively. The
clinical study suggested that zone style scalp acupuncture is more effective
than conventional acupuncture in improving essential tremor.
Reference
C Wang
& Z Zheng. Therapeutic Observation of Scalp Cluster Needling in Treating
Essential Tremor. Shanghai Journal of Acupuncture and Moxibustion 10 (2017):
1216-1219.
https://caod.oriprobe.com/issues/1769687/toc.htm
https://caod.oriprobe.com/issues/1769687/toc.htm
