Editor's Choice Academic Journal Main Category: Parkinson's Disease Also Included In: Complementary Medicine / Alternative Medicine Article Date: 20 Sep 2012 - 11:00 PDT
Current ratings for: Acupuncture May Benefit Parkinson's Patients
The scientists explained that several studies had shown that acupuncture treatment relieved symptoms of patients with Parkinson's disease in human and animal subjects. Some studies using fMRI had found that neural responses in extensive brain regions were much lower among Parkinson's patients compared to healthy individuals. Brain areas particularly affected by Parkinson's include the thalamus, putamen, and the supplementary motor area.
Scientists have been carrying out more and more studies on the possible therapeutic benefits of acupuncture. An article published in JAMA (Journal of the American Medical Association) in September 2012 found that acupuncture may help in the treatment of chronic pain.
Yeo, S., Lim and team used fMRI (functional magnetic resonance imaging) to measure what the specific effects of needling acupuncture point GB34 (Yanglinqquan) were on parts of the brain that are affected by Parkinson's Disease.
Certain brain centers become too inactive in people with Parkinson's disease. The authors explained that acupuncture seems to reactivate them.
The authors divided the participants into two groups:
Acupuncture reactivated neural activity in the basal ganglia, substiantia nigra, thalamus, putamen (not shown) and caudate (not shown).
The authors wrote:
Gradually the stiffness becomes a prominent symptoms, which slows down movements considerably - this is known as bradykinesia. The muscles of a PD (Parkinson's disease) patient become progressive weaker. Often sufferers adopt an unusual posture.
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Acupuncture May Benefit Parkinson's Patients