Acupuncture helps improve both motor and non-motor symptoms of Parkinson’s disease

Literature review study found that acupuncture treatment alleviated both motor and non-motor symptoms of Parkinson’s disease according to a report published in journal of CNS Neuroscience and Therapeutics.

In this article, we have studied the clinical reports of acupuncture treatment for Parkinson’s, which were listed in Medline, PubMed, EMBASE, CNKI, and CINAHL databases in the past 15 years. It was found that acupuncture either manual or electroacupuncture stimulation at specific acupoints relieved some motor symptoms in patients with Parkinson’s and markedly improved many non-motor symptoms such as psychiatric disorders, sleep problems, and gastrointestinal symptoms. When it was used as an adjunct for levodopa, acupuncture improved therapeutic efficacy and reduced dosage and the occurrence of side effects of levodopa.

Although the evidence for the effectiveness of acupuncture for treating PD is inclusive, data from the reviewed studies showed that therapeutic potential of acupuncture in treating Parkinson’s seems rather promising. More studies, either comparative effectiveness research or high-quality placebo-controlled clinical studies should be conducted.

Reference

Zeng BY & Zhao K, Effect of Acupuncture on the Motor and Nonmotor Symptoms in

Parkinson’s Disease—A Review of Clinical Studies. CNS Neurosci Ther. 2016 Feb 4. doi: 10.1111/cns.12507.    http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26843036

Acupuncture improved non-motor symptoms of Parkinson’s disease

Acupuncture treatment alleviated many non-motor symptoms of Parkinson’s including pain, depression, anxiety, hot flashes and paroxysmal sweating in a patients with Parkinson’s. This is a case report published in the journal of Case Reports of Neurological Medicine.

Non-motor symptoms occur in virtually all patients with Parkinson’s. Non-motor symptoms range from autonomic dysfunction, psychiatric disorders, sensory symptoms, gastrointestinal syndromes and many others. Acupuncture is very effective in relieving many non-motor symptoms without side-effect.

Recently Dr. Iseki and colleagues in Japan used acupuncture to treat multiple non-motor symptoms of a patient with PD. An 81-year-old woman with a 5-year history of right-dominant lower leg pain was admitted into the hospital. Although she was prescribed various kinds of pain killers her pain was not satisfactorily relieved. She was diagnosed with Parkinson’s 3 year ago due to her mask-like face and bradykinesia and around that time suffered from severe hot flashes and paroxysmal sweating which was not associated with the levodopa treatment. The patient was given acupuncture treatment 5 times per week for 2 weeks. Assessments including Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) for pain, Hamilton Depression Scale (HAM-D) for depression and the Unified Parkinson’s Disease Rating Scale (UPDRS) score were performed before and after acupuncture treatment.

It was found that immediately after every acupuncture session patient felt that her legs had become light. Two weeks after acupuncture her lower leg pain became milder. VAS scores were markedly reduced. The daily attack of hot flashes and paroxysmal sweating were decreased to about three time a week. Depression and anxiety were obviously lessened and HAM-D scores reduced from 18 to 9. The UPDRS total score reduced from 59 to 46. Her steps became larger and her bradykinesia was improved.

This is another report showing that acupuncture is beneficial to PD patients suffering from both non-motor and motor symptoms.

Reference

Iseki C et al.,  Acupuncture Alleviated the Nonmotor Symptoms of Parkinson's Disease including Pain, Depression, and Autonomic Symptoms. Case Rep Neurol Med. 2014;2014:953109. doi: 10.1155/2014/953109. http://www.hindawi.com/journals/crinm/2014/953109/ 

Acupuncture helps improving bladder dysfunction in Parkinson’s patients

Acupuncture in combination with lower dose of tolterodine not only significantly improved urinary function but the motor functions of Parkinson’s disease (PD) patients with overactive bladder syndrome. According to a report published in the journal of Chinese Acupuncture & Moxibustion.

Many PD patients developed some non-motor symptoms including bladder dysfunction such as overactive bladder syndrome – urinary frequency, urgency, and leakage which could be very severe and significantly impacted on patient’s quality of life. Conventional treatment for urinary dysfunction such as tolterodine can temporarily improve bladder function but has many unpleasant side effects.

Dr Chen Yi-Liang and colleagues in China carried out a clinical study to assess the therapeutic effect of acupuncture plus lower dosage of tolterodine on PD patients with overactive bladder syndrome. PD patients with overactive bladder syndrome were divided into two groups. Combination group (n=30) were treated with electroacupuncture (once a day, 6 time a week for 6 weeks), plus tolterodine 1mg, twice a day for 6 weeks. Drug group (n=30) was given tolterodine 2mg, twice a day for 6 weeks. Urinary functions and UPDRSIII scores were assessed before and after completion of treatment.

At the end of study although both groups showed significant improvement in urinary function, the improvement was greater in combination group. Moreover patients in combination group experienced better motor functions jugged by significant changes in UPDRSIII scores. The occurrence of side effects was also markedly less in combination group than those of drug only group.

The study showed that acupuncture indeed is a treatment for multi targets not only improve non-motor symptoms but motor symptoms as wells.

Reference:

Chen YL et al., [Parkinson's disease combined with overactive bladder syndrome treated with acupuncture and medication]. Zhongguo Zhen Jiu. 2012 Mar;32(3):215-8.     http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22471132

Acupuncture technique, Qin’s eight scalp needles helps relieve symptoms of Parkinson’s disease

Qin’s eight scalp needles, another acupuncture technique is reported improved both motor and non-motor symptoms of Parkinson’s, in the journal Zhonggou Zhen Jiu (Chinese Acupuncture & Moxibustion).

The term, the eight scalp needles, has been developed by Professor Qin Liang-Fu. It includes bilateral GB8 (Shuaigu), GB15 (Toulinqi) and GB20 (Fengchi), as well as Baihui (GV20) and Yintang (Ext2). Based on his years of clinical experience, he observed the importance of Governor Vessel meridian for limb disorders and miscellaneous diseases and that the similarity between the cephalic motor region distribution and relevant scalp acupoints of many meridians. Professor Qin then proposed the eight scalp needles which, in combination with different body acupoints, has been shown effectively in treating neurodegenerative disorders such as Parkinson’ and multiple sclerosis.

Qin’s eight scalp needles in combination with other body acupoints has been show improving tremor, rigidity, slow movement, anxiety and depression, and enhanced memory function, sleep quality and decreased UPDRS scores in Parkinson’s patients.

Qin’ eight scalp needles and “the seven acupoint of cranial base” reported here before show the diversity of acupuncture techniques used to treat Parkinson’s in China.

Reference:

Dong J & Cui HS, Clinical experience of Qin’s eight scalp needles for treatment of Parkinson’s disease. Zhongguo Zhen Jiu. 2014 May;34(5):491-4.    http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25022128

Acupuncture improves PD symptoms and helps Parkinson’s patients gradually stop medication.

An acupuncture technique called “the seven acupoints of the cranial base” is reported to improve clinical symptoms of Parkinson’s disease (PD) and help Parkinson’s patients gradually stopped medications for two weeks after acupuncture treatment. It was published in journal Chinese Acupuncture & Moxibustion recently.

The seven acupoints of cranial base consists of DU15, bilateral BL10, GB20 and GB12 and is located at the very place of cranial bottom. It is believed that the function pattern of the seven acupoints echoes the brain resting-state network.

Researchers in China conducted the clinical study to assess the effectiveness of the seven acupoints of the cranial base in patients with Parkinson’s. Forty nine patients with Parkinson’s were assessed using Webster scores and categorized as early illness (<10 scores, n=4), moderate (11-20 scores, n=43) and advanced (21-25 scores, n=2). Before acupuncture 36 patients were treated with Madopar other patients were given other medications. All patients were given electroacupuncture at the seven acupoints for 30min, 3 times a week.

Patients with early stage of PD stopped taking medication after 3 times of acupuncture, but continued acupuncture treatment for a further 6 times. Patients with moderate PD reduced their medication to half dosage after having 3-time acupuncture, and stopped taking medication after 6^th acupuncture, but continued acupuncture treatment for a further 6 times. Advanced patients reduced their medication by a third after 3-time acupuncture, and reduced their medication to half dosage after 6^th acupuncture treatment, then stopped medication after 10^th acupuncture, but continued acupuncture treatment for a further 9 times. There was no adverse effect and complication during and after acupuncture treatment.

Before acupuncture the average of Webster scores was 16.74±3.35 and it was significantly reduced to 11.50±4.17 after acupuncture treatment. Approximately 87% of patients with PD stopped medication for two weeks after last acupuncture treatment and maintained good improvement of their symptoms.

It will be interesting to know the outcome of the follow-up study.

Reference:

Yuan Y et al., [Forty-nine cases of Parkinson's disease treated by acupuncture adjunctive therapy]. Zhongguo Zhen Jiu. 2014 Jan;34(1):53-4. Chinese.