Effective treatment options for Parkinsons

Chinese Medicine as a whole (acupuncture, herbal medicine, tuina massage, etc.) is widely used to treat parkinsons. To see general ideas of how we treat it you can read my acupuncture for parkinsons article. Many english language studies are available at pubmed.gov - search for acupuncture and parkinsons to get a list of those available. Some have already been written about in this site. More are available through Chinese sources if you can read Chinese.

Keep in mind, however, that acupuncture is not heavily studied largely due to the expense of the studies. The amount of studies pale in comparison to the amount of clinical successes there are with many conditions. Do not rely on studies to necessarily determine whether something is a viable treatment or not.

Generally we study things that we largely already understand, can patent, and ultimately can profit from - in part because of the expense and legal requirements involved. Also, keep in mind that with Chinese Medicine there are -no- treatments for "parkinsons" for example (or any other "condition" for that matter), but for the multitude of causes from a Chinese Medicine perspective that may lead to parkinsons and related issues. For more on that read "What Does Acupuncture Treat?". The distinction between treating "conditions" in western medicine and "patterns" in Chinese Medicine is crucial to understand when evaluating acupuncture.

I&#39ve just started TomTam in Arlington, MA for cancer. But my Dad has parkinson, and is reluctant to try TomTam and he lives in Mexico with few practioners. But some say TomTam (or called Tong Ren) can be done thru telephone. Maybe not as strong. Anyway, do you have knowledge of this method? Thank you very much

My first experience was a zero. Then I started noticing some acupuncture studies on pub med where some people called GB 34, for example, the parkinson disease point. It is not the only one that has had some good studies on it. So, that is not to say it cured parkinson&#39s disease but if you can relieve the condition and make the other things they are doing be more effective with less effort -- it is worth it.

In general, I read the studies, glean good points, and always go back to the health pattern of the individual and bury the good points within an overall treatment plan which treats their core pattern (ie dampness encumbering, spleen qi xu, blood xu, ... ).

And I&#39ve noticed many patients who do community acupuncture seem to feel benefits symptomatically which help them cope more ... like gaining back some hunger and being able to gain some weight back on the bones (which is the last comment from a Parkinson patient who received community acupuncture followed up by magnets afterward.)