▲Wu Baifeng, a Chinese medicine physician, said that for neurological diseases such as stroke, Parkinson’s disease, vascular dementia, Alzheimer’s disease, etc., acupuncture is an effective adjuvant therapy. (Photo provided by Wu Bofeng)
Text / Wu Baifeng
In view of the aging population structure, more and more elderly people in outpatient clinics have memory loss or progress to dementia. The most common dementia is Alzheimer’s disease, which is a persistent and irreversible disease. , more than half of all dementia cases are of this type.
Mild cognitive impairment refers to a transitional state between dementia and normal aging. Approximately 5-10% of mild cognitive impairment develops dementia each year. Although mild cognitive impairment shows some mild memory abnormalities, it still fails to meet the clinical diagnostic criteria for dementia.
Please read on…
According to memory deficit, mild cognitive impairment can be divided into amnesia and non-amnesia. Amnestic mild cognitive impairment mainly manifests the decline of memory capacity, but at the same time maintains good functions of daily life. Studies have confirmed that patients with amnesic mild cognitive impairment have a higher chance of developing Alzheimer’s disease than people with normal cognitive function.
Research reports show that acupuncture is an effective adjuvant therapy for neurological diseases such as stroke, Parkinson’s disease, vascular dementia, Alzheimer’s disease, etc.
◎Possible mechanisms of acupuncture treatment of cognitive impairment include:
●Improve the release of nerve growth factor.
●Reduce oxidative stress.
●Reduces gene expression of apoptosis.
●Increase synaptic plasticity.
●Increase the growth of neural precursor cells in the hippocampus and dentate gyrus.
Complementary therapy combined with western medicine is obviously helpful
An integrated analysis study in 2016 pointed out that acupuncture points at least include Baihui, Fengchi, Shenting, Sishencong, and the use of electro-acupuncture treatment can significantly improve the scores of the Simple Cognitive Scale (MMSE), and The combination of acupuncture and western medicine Nimodipine is more effective than Nimodipine alone. That is to say, acupuncture, especially on the scalp, does have a significant effect on the improvement of cognitive function.
However, dementia is a progressive degenerative neurological disease. If there is no continuous tracking and treatment, it is easy to progress to a state with a relatively obvious degeneration speed. After entering the middle stage of dementia, the patient will show irritability, irritability, depression, etc. Mood swings will be more pronounced.
Traditional Chinese medicine clinics often treat patients with sequelae of stroke, often complicated by vascular dementia, and elderly people with other chronic diseases who also have cognitive decline. After at least two weeks of acupuncture treatment, they can see a certain degree of cognitive improvement.
(The author is a doctor of traditional Chinese medicine at the Hsinchu Hospital of China Medical University)
☆Do not miss health news, follow by likefan page。
☆For more important medical news, please go toFree Health Network。
No need to draw, no need to grab, now use the APP to watch the news to ensure that you will win the lottery every dayClick me to download APP
Follow me to see how the event works