A Case Report of a Patient with Parkinson’s Disease Treated with Acupuncture and Exercise Therapy

Abstract

Objectives: Parkinson’s disease is characterized by progressive, irreversible damage to dopamine neurons in the substantia nigra pars compacta, as well as motor and non-motor symptoms. This disease currently has no dependable disease-modifying treatment. In this paper, we describe the treatment of a 67-year-old female with Parkinson’s disease using acupuncture and exercise therapy.Case Presentation: Clinical symptoms and the United Kingdom Parkinson’s Disease Society Brain Bank Diagnostic Criteria were used to diagnose the patient with Parkinson’s disease. Over a 12-week period, the patient visited a Korean medicine hospital 18 times and was treated with acupuncture and exercise therapy in addition to anti-Parkinson’s drugs. Before and after treatment, clinical examinations were performed using tools such as the Unified Parkinson’s Disease Rating Scale, Fall Efficacy Scale, Parkinson’s Disease Questionnaire, Berg Balance Scale, and Non-Motor Symptoms Scale. Furthermore, functional near-infrared spectroscopy was used to assess cortical hemodynamics. All clinical examination results improved after 12 weeks of intervention. In particular, improvements on the Total Unified Parkinson’s Disease Rating Scale and Part III of this scale demonstrated large, clinically important differences.Conclusion: This case suggests that combining acupuncture and exercise therapy could produce an effective treatment for Parkinson’s disease patients.