Can acupuncture relieve the symptoms of Parkinson’s Disease?
There’s no doubting that the lockdown years of 2020 and 2021 significantly changed how we came to define what was normal in life. From remote working and the etiquette of socialisation to global politics and economics, life has materially changed.
That also goes for health. For two years, GPs closed their surgery doors and retreated behind virtual consultations via telephone or video conferencing. Many surgeries have yet to fully reopen. Most continue to ‘see’ patients virtually.
That has had a number of consequences.
First, it has reduced the number of appointment requests being made by patients. Despite NHS England ordering GPs to reinstate face-to-face consultations, the majority of practices are adopting a triage approach to this through a first-stage virtual screening that determines whether a condition necessitates a visit by the patient.
But there is also thought to be an ‘inertia’ factor at play in the decline in appointment requests.
Many patients with minor ailments who might once have made an appointment but who perceive they will now be made to jump through hoops to get one are simply electing to wait to see if the condition resolves itself.
The other consequence of being unable to be seen by a GP has been the growing trend to look at alternative forms of healthcare.
My next blog will look at how this benefits the alternative and complementary medicine sector, and what the long-term effect of those benefits might be, but one of them is that generally speaking more people than ever are now more open-minded about non-clinical healthcare options.
As a result, there has been significant growth in inquiries about how different treatments, including acupuncture, might help to relieve the symptoms of serious – terminal and life-limiting – conditions such as cancer, Parkinson’s Disease, and Motor Neurone Disease.
Alongside that trend growth, acupuncture in particular has seen evidence-based trials launched in various locations.
As a result, there is now clinical scientific evidence to suggest that when used in conjunction with other, traditional treatments this ancient Chinese treatment can help to produce some immediate improvement for Parkinson’s Disease.
More trials producing greater depth in results are needed, especially to determine whether this immediate improvement is sustained over the longer term, and it’s important to stress, of course, that the current evidence specifically results from trialling acupuncture in tandem with conventional care.
It is always a good idea to seek professional advice from the doctors delivering your care, or that of someone close to you, before making any major decisions about how ongoing or future care is managed.
As a neurodegenerative condition, Parkinson’s occurs when neurons do not produce enough of the dopamine neurotransmitter. Common symptoms include tremors, stiffness, slowness of movement and some balance problems and it’s estimated that it affects up to 5% of the population over the age of 65 – around 600,000 people.
How does acupuncture help with Parkinson’s Disease?
According to the National Library of Medicine, it has been clear since around 2011 that acupuncture demonstrated identifiable success in stimulating an increase in the body’s production of dopamine.
This increase in production is not sufficient to completely mitigate the natural decline in the natural biological production process – in crude terms, that would represent the critical first steps in finding a cure.
However, what it does mean is that acupuncture can be effective in ameliorating the physical and neural symptoms of Parkinson’s Disease which can manifest as a reduction in tremors, stiffness, and slowness, for example.
This is why, when acupuncture is offered as a complementary treatment for Parkinson’s, it can achieve demonstrable short-term success.
And while it may also offer the same neuroprotection in the medium- or longer-term, it affords patients and their carers a tangible route to living with the disease with some ongoing or regular respite from its symptoms.
If you’d like to learn more about how our acupuncture treatments can help to alleviate the symptoms of a chronic condition, please get in touch for an informal, friendly chat – I’d love to hear from you.