Researchers from Heilongjiang Traditional Chinese Medicine University saw that acupuncture was effective for treating progressive bulbar palsy, the condition that’s a variant of ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis). Patients suffering from progressive bulbar palsy, which is a rare condition that affects the brain stem often there suffer from symptoms such as difficulty with chewing, loss of speech, weakness of the extremity of facial muscles and difficulty swallowing or dysphagia. After conducting a controlled trial of 90 patients, researchers concluded that acupuncture treatments have a 90% rate of success in the treatment of bulbar palsy. Moreover, within two weeks of treatment, all the patients who were treated with acupuncture in Orlando experienced meaningful improvements.
The rate of effectiveness was 81.4% for patients that received acupuncture within three to four weeks of onset all patients below the age of 60 years old and 71% of patients about 60 years of age manifested vast clinical improvements. These outcomes reveal that progressive bulbar palsy patients do attain meaningful benefits from acupuncture treatments.
Acupuncture does not cure bulbar palsy per se; this research,however, shows that when given at earlier stages of the condition, acupuncture produces a meaningful amount of relief. The following acupointsware used in the clinical study:
Fayin
Gongxue
Tunyan
Yuye(MHN20)
Jinjin (MHN20)
Lianchuan (CV23)
Fengfu (GV16)
Yiming (EX-HN13)
Fengchi (GB20)
Tunyan is an acupoint to explain the proper aforementioned acupuncture points. This point is found13 mm lateral to the Adam’s apple(laryngeal prominence)and hyoid bone’s midpoint. A depth of about about8 mm in a slanted insertion was administered. The Gongxue point is found40 mm under the GB20 (administered using a perpendicular insertion). The acupointFayincan be found5 mm lateral to the cricoid cartilage and thyroid cartilage’smidpoint. It’s treated with a perpendicular insertion to a depth of8 mm.For patients suffering from central hemiplegia, the following acupoints were included:
Xiaxi(GB43)
Shuanshong(GB39)
Zusanli(St36)
Huantiao(GB30)
Houtsi(SI3)
Hegu(LI4)
Waiguan(TB5)
Alcohol (75%) was used for routine disinfection was administered. Patients were seated when they were given acupuncture treatment. For Fengfu, Gongxue, Yiming, and Fengchi50 mm × 0.25 disposable ultrathin needles were insertedtransversely to a depth of 25 to 40 mm. for 15 seconds, the twisting method was used at a rate of 100 turns a minute. This was done two times for each session. Needles remained in the body for half an hour for each session of acupuncture after the administration of manual insertion of needle.
For Yuye and Jinjin, 60 × 0.25 mm disposable ultrathin needles were inserted transversely to a depth of 40 to 50 mm and after insertion,the needles were turned with twisting manipulation. Fayinand Tunyanwere insertedperpendicularly to an8 mm depth with the same twisting manipulative approach. Treatment was given twice a day, over a course of six days, and after each course, the patients rested. atThethree week data point, researchers recorded and assessed the effects.
Supplements
Researchersadministered supplements to both the control and acupuncture experiment groups (e.g., Vitamin C, aspirin and antihypertensive tabletcompounds, Dan Shen tablets,cytidine diphosphate choline, mannitol, para-aminomethylbenzoic acid and panaxnotoginsengsaponinsorHsue Sai Tong) based on the condition. According to the researchers, the supplements were added dependent on the based on the blood pressure conditions or arteriosclerosis of the patients. In addition, they were also included to boost microcirculation. Giventhe variable high rate of in the supplement therapy, there seems to be a weakness in the study design.
Effectiveness of the treatment
Forthe acupuncture experiment group,the total weight of effectivity of the treatment was 96.7% while for the control group, it was 46.7%. The rate of effectiveness of the treatment significantly differed (P<0.005) between the two groups, implying that acupuncture worked well for the treatment of bulbar palsy. Withintwo weeks of onset,all the patients (100%) who received acupuncture treatment had, at the very least, distinct or slight improvements. In total, 81.3% of the patients who received acupuncture treatment within three to four weeks experienced at least distinct or slight improvements. Within five to 12 weeks,60% of patients that received acupuncture within showed slight levels of improvement.
The data reveals contrasting significance (P<0.005)for patients that received acupuncture treatment within two weeks and four weeks. For age differences, it was found that all patients (100%) under 60 years old manifested some type of improvements after acupuncture treatment and patients about 60 years of age, had 70.6% rate of success after acupuncture treatment.
Discussion
Inpatients that were giventreatment shortly after diagnosis of the illness and patients that were younger,the clinical improvements were greater. Progressive bulbar palsy is this an extremely dangerous condition that has no known cure; however, the study showed that acupuncture was successful in relieving some of the symptoms. Todetermine the place of acupuncture in a widertreatment protocol for patients suffering from progressive bulbar palsy a study with a longer time-frame for treatment and follow-sup, with stricter controls, and a larger sample size is needed.