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Objectives: The objective of the study was to investigate the effect of acupuncture on the circadian rhythm of blood pressure (BP) in patients with hypertension. Design: The study was designed as a randomized, double-blind, controlled trial. Subjects were randomly divided into an active acupuncture group and a sham acupuncture group. Each patient received real or sham acupuncture treatment twice a week for 8 weeks. Acupuncture needles were inserted at bilateral ST 36 plus PC 6; placebo points. Subjects: Thirty-three (33) patients with essential hypertension were the subjects. Outcome measures: Twenty-four (24)-hour ambulatory BP was assessed before and after treatment. Results: After the treatment period, there was a significant increase in nocturnal diastolic BP dipping compared to that at baseline (10.20 -7.56 mm Hg versus 5.21 -10.19 mm Hg, p = 0.038) in the active acupuncture group but not in the sham acupuncture group. The nocturnal diastolic BP dipping response to active acupuncture treatment was significantly different from the response seen with the sham acupuncture treatment ( p = 0.041). The number of dippers also increased from 4 to 8 in the active acupuncture group. Average systolic and diastolic BP was not changed significantly except for nighttime diastolic BP (90.32 -11.47 mm Hg to 87.83 -9.16 mm Hg, p = 0.041). Conclusions: It is suggested that acupuncture treatment could be useful for improving the circadian rhythm of BP in patients with hypertension.

It is suggested that the combined treatment of acupuncture and BVA might be safe and useful adjunctive treatment for patients with IPD.

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Combined treatment with acupuncture and BVA showed promising results as a safe adjunctive therapy for PD.

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Recently, rehabilitative exercise therapies have been described as an important method of overcoming the limitations of the conventional therapies for Parkinson’s disease. The present study aimed to evaluate efficacy and safety of exercise therapies for Parkinson’s disease. Randomized controlled trials that evaluated exercise therapies in patients with Parkinson’s disease until December 2016 were searched for in five electronic databases: PubMed, CENTRAL, EMBASE, OASIS, and CNKI. Eighteen studies (1,144 patients) were included. The overall methodological quality was not high. Patients who underwent exercise therapies exhibited statistically significant improvements in the total UPDRS, UPDRS II and III, Berg Balance Scale, preferred walking speed, and Timed Up and Go Test compared to patients who underwent nonexercise therapies. In comparison to patients who performed regular activity, patients who underwent exercise therapies exhibited statistically significant improvements in the total UPDRS, UPDRS II, and UPDRS III. Exercise therapies were found to be relatively safe. Exercise therapies might promote improvements in the motor symptoms of Parkinson’s disease. However, due to the small number of randomized controlled trials and methodological limitations, we are unable to draw concrete conclusions. Therefore, further studies with better designs will be needed.

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