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Parkinson’s Disease

Parkinson’s is a highly prevalent disorder that affects the nervous system.

There are over 100,000 Canadians living with Parkinson’s disease, as reported by Parkinson’s News Today. In the U.S., over 60,000 people are diagnosed with the disorder annually, according to the Parkinson’s Foundation.

Parkinson’s is a progressive neurological disorder that impairs movement and significantly reduces quality of life. It is often recognized by the debilitating tremors, stiffness, or lack of normal movement. Those living with the condition have to deal with poor coordination, balance, and difficulties with walking.

The disease starts slowly and progresses over time. The more it develops, the harder it gets for patients to talk and walk properly. Some might experience mental health issues, issues with memory, exhaustion, and insomnia, among others.

Although no specific reason for disease has been found yet, modern research indicates that Parkinson’s disease is due to systemic inflammation and a build-up of pathogenic protein in brain cells. This protein- alpha-synuclein accumulates in the part of the midbrain, the basal ganglia, and causes the death of nerve cells and creates a loss of production of the neurotransmitter, dopamine.

According to the Mayo Clinic, the symptoms of Parkinson’s disease may vary from person to person. Here are the typical symptoms a person might experience:

  • Muscle stiffness (anywhere in the body)
  • Poor balance and posture
  • Trouble writing
  • Hard time speaking
  • Loss of automatic movements (e.g. swinging of the arms, blinking, or laughing)
  • Tremors and shaking
  • Reduced movement
  • Poor sleep
  • Depression
  • Constipation and bladder issues

Unfortunately, there is no cure for the disease. Medication is the primary method for controlling the symptoms of Parkinson’s. When dopamine levels get too low, the drugs interact with the nervous system and help to boost it up. However, they fail to stop the progression of the disease and this causes unwanted adverse effects, significantly affecting the patient’s quality of life.

This is why many people rely on alternative forms of treatment, especially Chinese medicine and acupuncture. In this article, we will take a closer look at how Oriental medicine affects the disease, and whether or not it can help patients improve their quality of life and reduce Parkinson’s symptoms.

Acupuncture can help reduce motor and non-motor symptoms of Parkinson’s disease

Acupuncture and especially scalp acupuncture – a contemporary technique that targets the projection of neuro-anatomical areas of the brain4  when combined with electrical stimulation can significantly reduce many motor and non-motor symptoms, such as tremors, muscle stiffness, poor balance, depression, sleep impairment and improve the patient’s quality of life 5.

The treatment can be safely combined with regular medication. For example, both scalp and body electroacupuncture, if continued for prolong period of time as an add-on treatment, can significantly lessen motor symptoms, such as tremors, muscle stiffness and slow movement to compare with the group of patients that received medication only 6-10. In addition to this, sleep and depression eases too, enhancing the patient’s quality of life and reducing their suffering 5.  Based on the analysis of multiple clinical studies, scientists have concluded that acupuncture combined with conventional treatment has a more significant effect in improving the patient’s symptoms than just conventional treatment alone. 5,11,12

Electroacupuncture reduces neuron damage, boosts neuronal activity and increases brain circulation

Multiple sources of research on Parkinson’s patients and animals point to a mechanism of scalp and electro-acupuncture. Analysis of animal studies suggests that acupuncture protects dopamine neurons from degeneration.13-18 For example, in one study, the prolonged use of electrostimulation of specific points significantly improved motor function and reduced neuron damage in mice. The improvement still continued for a few weeks after the treatment stopped 16. Based on reports from neuroimaging research that was conducted on real patients, acupuncture can boost neuronal activity, increase brain circulation and cerebral metabolism.19-22 Electroacupuncture also reduces inflammation 18 and it stimulates the vagus nerve, which plays an important role in the development of Parkinson’s disease.23-25

Chinese herbs for Parkinson’s

Gut microbiome, inflammation and Parkinson’s disease

Before I talk about the role of Chinese herbs in the treatment of Parkinson’s, I want to introduce recent discoveries in the pathophysiology of the disease. There is more and more evidence coming out these days that Parkinson’s disease, as with many as other neurological and mental disorders, most likely originates from the gut rather from the central nervous system, and has a link to gastro-intestinal inflammation and a change in the GI microbiome.26-28 As the matter of fact, our gut contains more than a trillion microorganisms including bacteria, viruses and fungi.29-30

A reduction of intestine microflora has been linked to systemic inflammation, depression, anxiety and neurological conditions, such as Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s, multiple sclerosis and other neurodegenerative disorders.26-32 The growing body of evidences suggest that the harmful protein, called alpha-synuclein, is one that causes neuronal death in the basal ganglia in Parkinson’s patients. It originates in gastro-intestinal tract first and then, most likely, spreads to the brainstem through the vagus nerve. 33-35 When scientists transplanted the gut bacteria metabolites taken from Parkinson’s patients to mice, it triggered neuroinflammation and induced neurological symptoms in animals, in additional to the GI problems, such as constipation36. Indeed, many Parkinson’s patients complain of GI symptoms years before they develop motor abnormality. 37

Chinese Herbs can regulate gut microbiome and reduce systemic inflammation

Traditional Chinese Herbal medicine is one of the oldest medical systems in the word, is based on thousands of years of clinical experience and has its own theoretical basis. It addresses individual patient’s symptoms rather than a specific disease, and so, restores the body’s normal function. Chinese materia medica utilizes plants, animal and minerals, which contain a rich source of active natural ingredients such as flavonoids, alkaloids, phytosterols, saponins and other substances.38

There are more and more studies coming out every day that investigate the potential effect of Chinese herbs on gut flora. As a matter of fact, either single herb or traditional herbal formula that contains multiple ingredients can modulate a composition of the gut’s microflora and bring its proportion back to balance. 39-40 But not only do Chinese herbs enrich the intestines with “good” bacteria, they also significantly reduce inflammation and bring down inflammatory markers, or ‘cytokines’ such as tumor necrosis factor and interleukin. 39-40 This is also very important because chronic inflammation and elevation of these proinflammatory markers are linked to cerebrovascular, autoimmune, neurological, (such as Parkinson’s) and cardiovascular diseases. 41-42 For example, Huang Qin decoction, a classical formula that aims to address inflammatory bowel disease in animal experiments, reduced intestinal damage and suppressed inflammatory markers. It also preserved a level of “good” bacteria, such as Lactococcus and decreased the level of Helicobacter – the bad one39.

Chinese Herbs Can block Harmful Protein And Prevent Neuronal Loss

As mentioned previously, neuronal damage and a reduction in dopamine levels are the cause of the development of the symptoms of Parkinson’s disease. The a-synuclein is a protein which is to blame for this.

Here’s an interesting fact: there are a few Chinese herbal components, such as baicalein, Salvianolic acid B or Isorhynchophylline, which can reduce the accumulation of pathological protein in the brain. 43-46 On the other hand, resveratrol, curcumin, and panax ginseng/ginsenoside have anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties and can reduce dopamine neuronal loss in animals. 46,47

In addition to this, baikaline, which is a flavonoid delivered from scutellaria baicalensis (Huang Qin in Chinese) was able to reduce muscle tremors, improve motor activity and increase the number of dopaminergic neurons in experiments on rats. 48

However, Chinese herbs are never used along, but rather in combination with other herbs. The traditional Chinese herbal composition is called ‘formula’. Such formulas have also been tested and found to be effective as well. For example, formulas like Tian Ma Gou Teng Yin or a Zhichan powder and others were tested on animals and real patients and found to have neuroprotective and anti-inflammatory effects with the ability to reduce the alpha-synuclein level. More importantly, it also improves motor function and enhances the Parkinson’s patient’s quality of life. 49-53

Chinese herbs for Parkinson’s

To find out if traditional herbal medicine is effective for Parkinson’s disease, a total of 14 studies that involved 1,311 patients were investigated. I was found that herbal medicine, if combined with conventional medicine, can significantly reduce the patient’s suffering and improve their quality of life.

The combination of Western and Chinese herbal medicine was found to be safe and well tolerated. The research also shows that it reduced motor symptoms according the Parkinson’s Disease Rating Scale and also improved non-motor aspects, such as depression and sleep.54

Another systematic review compared the impact of Chinese herbal medicine in combination with conventional medicine and medication. Research came to a similar conclusion: when herbs are combined with western medication, patients experienced significant improvement, compared with the group of people taking medication only. Chinese herbal medicine appears to be a safe and effective add-on treatment option for Parkinson’s that can remarkably improve the patient’s quality of life. The side effects of herbal medicine appear to be less common than with Western medication, and they are also less severe.57

Tai Qi and Qi Gong for Parkinson’s disease

Tai Chi and Qi Gong are ancient Oriental forms of martial arts. They are also part of traditional Chinese Medicine and are forms of fitness. They are slow-motion, low impact and meditative exercises that aim to maintain and improve health. According to the Harvard Medical school report, six months of Tai Chi improved balance and motor control in Parkinson’s patients. Other studies also confirm that Qi Gong or Tai Chi are beneficial for patients and can enhance their quality of life.58

In conclusion, traditional Chinese medicine, when combined with conventional therapy can improve symptoms of Parkinson’s disease better than conventional medicine alone. According to recent studies, scalp acupuncture and herbs may slow down the progression of the disease, prevent dopaminergic neurons from degenerating, boost activity of different brain centers and reduce harmful inflammation in the body. A combination of scalp and body electroacupuncture together with traditional Chinese herbs and Tai Chi/Qi Gong therapy can enhance a patient’s motor function, notably boost their stability and balance, reduce tremors and depression as well as provide a relief for the patient and their family.

Sunrise Neuro-Acupuncture Integrative Clinic is an acupuncture and Chinese medicine clinic in Westboro, Ottawa. We provide care for Parkinson’s disease. If you would like to receive more information about this treatment, you can call us at: 613-853-9099

References

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https://parkinsonsnewstoday.com/parkinsons-disease-statistics/
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https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/parkinsons-disease/symptoms-causes/syc-20376055
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