Tremors and Acupuncture – Positive Results

Hand Shaking Tremor Symptoms May Be Improved With Acupuncture

Essential tremor often first affects the hands. The exact cause hasn’t been discovered yet, even though scientists have been researching treatment for many years. There is, however, a relationship between Acupuncture and Essential Tremor. Uncontrollable shakiness, especially in the hands can be slowed down by Acupuncture.


Essential tremor is a neurological condition causing involuntary trembling with a rhythmic pattern. It is often more noticeable when affecting the hands, which is also the area that is usually affected first. Essential tremor progresses slowly and usually affects the hands, arms, head, larynx, tongue, and chin. Onset is typically gradual. Exacerbations of the condition may be triggered by lack of sleep, anxiety, fatigue, caffeine, and extreme temperatures.

Essential tremors are shown to affect approximately 1 percent of the general population, although that number increases to 5 percent in patients 65 years and older, which means it affects approximately 10 million people in the U.S. alone.

Conventional treatment of essential tremors, for are generally limited to lifestyle changes and medications. Drugs like Beta blockers, anti-epileptics, and electrical deep brain stimulations are the only routes of therapy that conventional medicine offers. These may or may not work, and sometimes come with undesirable side effects.

Some clinical studies have proven Acupuncture delivers encouraging results to patients who suffer from essential tremor. Some medicines are available to decrease symptoms. But along with the medical treatment, if a patient is treated with acupuncture, tremors in the arms, legs, and sometimes in the head can be controlled.

This case study describes the treatment of essential tremor in a 74-y-old woman, using weekly acupuncture sessions for a 10-wk period. The patient expressed her subjective opinion of her improvement due to the weekly treatments and was evaluated regarding her handwriting and her ability to hold a cup. The patient continued to maintain these benefits through monthly acupuncture sessions at 12 mo after the initial acupuncture treatment.

Since ancient times, Acupuncture is a great healer for a number of health issues. Acupuncture is an art as well as a science, so it is highly recommended that a tremor patient should consult with experts. know how to use the subtle diagnostic techniques especially to treat common shaking or moving disorder problems. When it comes to movement disorder issues, there are two commonly known diseases: one is Parkinson Disease’s and another is the essential tremor. Often people confuse these for being the same, but it is not true.

Heilongjiang University of Chinese Medicine researchers acupuncture effective for the treatment of essential tremor. Conventional acupuncture produced a 73.3% total effective rate and a three month follow-up found relapse rates are relatively low at 45.5%.

Parkinson’s Disease Vs Essential Tremor

The biggest difference between the Parkinson’s disease and essential tremor is that essential tremor is shakiness in hands when you use your hands. Essential tremor is more prevalent with activity and Parkinson’s disease related tremors worsen at rest. For example, when you drink, eat and hold anything, your hands shake. On the contrary, Parkinson’s disease is often noticed in the hand while the hand is in resting position around the body.

So it is clear, following these two symptoms you can more easily recognize which disease you are dealing with. The good news is that acupuncture will help tremors from both causes.

How Acupuncture Provides Help For Tremors

Tremor and involuntary shaking treatment using acupuncture may reduce tremors after the first treatment. Acupuncturists know the points to work on to slow down hand tremor with Acupuncture. Some experts believe that because acupuncture uses fine, sterile needles to stimulate nerves and the release of hormones, it’s possible that this is what provides the therapeutic effects seen in patients with tremors, allowing patients to reduce or eliminate the need for harsher therapies.

Research suggests that the stimulation of nerves can interrupt the mechanism of the tremors due to the fact that when manipulated, the acupuncture needles activate the somatic sensory receptors that are sensitive to physical distortion, along with a multitude of changes observed in the thalamus, 10 which is thought to play a role in tremors.

How Long Does Acupuncture Take To Deliver Positive Results

Acupuncture therapy will reduce the symptoms drastically after every treatment session. Experts do not know how long the treatment effects last in the long term even though it delivers effective results overall.

Overall, this essential tremor solution, Acupuncture is one of the most effective treatments to restore health from tremors and other common conditions and diseases. In the clinical setting, acupuncture has seen marked therapeutic effects, reducing or eliminating the effects of hand tremors and maintaining an improved quality of life.