Parkinson’s disease is a type of nervous system disorder that affects movement and can cause cognitive changes. While there is not a cure for the disease, there are some treatments available that can either slow progression or help with symptoms.
One problem many people with Parkinson’s disease face is difficulty with getting quality sleep.
The study findings are published in JAMA Network Open. According to the National Institutes of Health (NIH), around 500,000 people in the United States have Parkinson’s disease, and experts suspect that number could be twice as high since many people live with Parkinson’s for some time before diagnosis.
An early symptom of the disorder is developing a tremor, and people may eventually develop muscle stiffness, coordination issues, sleep problems, depression, and later experience difficulty swallowing, walking, and communicating.
Parkinson’s disease worsens over time, but symptoms can be managed with medications, surgical treatments such as deep brain stimulation, and occupational or physical therapies.
Sometimes providers prescribe sleep medications, but oftentimes these medications cause drowsiness during the day. This led researchers in the current study to see whether acupuncture could help with sleep quality.
Acupuncture is a form of traditional Chinese medication and has been around for thousands of years. Since the prior research on using acupuncture to help with sleep quality in Parkinson’s disease was limited, the researchers in the current study wanted to delve further into this with a double-blind clinical trial.
The researchers studied 78 participants who were aged 30 to 80. All participants had moderate to severe sleep issues and were presently taking an anti-Parkinson’s medication.
Prior to treatment, all participants completed the Parkinson’s Disease Sleep Scale (PDSS) questionnaire. The researchers used this to assess their sleep quality.
The scientists randomly placed the participants into one of two groups: real acupuncture or sham acupuncture. The sham group was a placebo group that did not receive actual acupuncture therapy.
The participants received their acupuncture treatments three times per week for 30-minute sessions for 4 weeks. The researchers saw similar results in the overall quality of life improvement for people in the real acupuncture group. They had a reduction in both motor and non-motor skills severity compared to their baseline scores.
The researchers also administered tests to assess motor skills and non-motor skills of the participants to see how deficits impacted their daily living. Overall, investigating acupuncture for sleep in Parkinson’s disease holds promise for improving patient well-being. However, further research and overcoming logistical hurdles are necessary for its widespread integration into standard care.
Sunkara noted that this type of therapy could be difficult for some people to obtain. He said finding acupuncturists who have experience treating people with Parkinson’s disease could be difficult, and the cost of the therapy could also pose a problem.
Insurance coverage for acupuncture can vary, potentially limiting patient access.
Sunkara also emphasized that acupuncture in people with Parkinson’s disease would not replace existing treatments for Parkinson’s. Acupuncture should not replace traditional Parkinson’s disease medications but can be a complementary therapy.
