Efficacy and Safety of Acupuncture for Idiopathic Parkinson's Disease: A Systematic Review

Abstract

There is evidence indicating the potential effectiveness of acupuncture for treating IPD. The results were limited by the methodological flaws, unknowns in concealment of allocation, number of dropouts, and blinding methods in the studies. Large, well-designed, placebo-controlled RCTs with rigorous methods of randomization and adequately concealed allocation, as well as intention-to-treat data analysis are needed.

Acupuncture Stimulation of Taichong (Liv3) and Hegu (LI4) Modulates the Default Mode Network Activity in Alzheimer’s Disease

“…Healthy controls met the following criteria: (1) no neurological or psychiatric disorders such as stroke, depression, and epilepsy; (2) no neurological deficiencies such as visual or hearing loss; (3) no abnormal findings such as infarction or focal lesion in conventional brain MR imaging; (4) no cognitive complaints; (5) Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) score of 28 or higher; and (6) CDR score of 0.…”

Current Status of Intervention Studies on Acupuncture for Parkinson’s Disease

“…Although it was used in most screened studies (9 out of 17), UPDRS III does not evaluate the effect of AT on PD, and thus a new standard should be developed 38,39) . Some studies reported that the evaluation of the effect of AT on PD is limited by the sample size 7,35,40) . In addition, the effectiveness of AT could be assessed because the quality of the studies was poor.…”

Acupuncture for Symptomatic Treatment of Fatigue in Parkinson's Disease: Trial Design and Implementation

“…[42][43][44] Participants lay face up on the acupuncture table and were blindfolded. All acupuncture points were swabbed with alcohol.…”