[Objective]This case evaluates the effects of acupuncture for a Parkinson's Disease patient with frozen gait.
[Case]Patient:a 58-year-old male. Chief complaints were frozen gait and fatigue of legs. The gait disturbance was realized about three years ago, and has been gradually worsening. The Hoehn &Yahr stage is III. Treatment:The patient received medication and acupuncture treatment once a week or two for 18 months. Electric acupuncture treatment was adopted on arms and lower legs, and lone needles on the back and legs. Measurements:Outcome measures were timed in a 10 m walk and turn for frozen gait and Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) for fatigue of legs.
[Results]From a long term point of view, there were no significant changes for the outcomes measured. However just after the treatment VAS was statistically improved, and the patient reported a comfortable feeling.
[Conclusion]The effect of acupuncture for frozen gait was not seen, but the improvement in fatigue of legs was noted, and the patient felt comfortable after the treatment.

Gait disturbance is a serious problem in Parkinson's disease (PD). Exercise therapy is used to alleviate this complaint. We investigated the effects of a videotaped arm swinging-based home exercise program on gait in PD patients. The subjects included 25 outpatients aged between 55 and 77 years (average age 68.9 years) with PD in Hoehn and Yahr stages II-IV. We prepared a master video tape in which a trainer was shown to be performing an arm swinging exercise or steps in synchrony with a metronome. The exercise menu consisted of 4 parts : arm swinging in a seated position, arm swinging in an upright position without stepping, arm swinging with stepping, and walking on the floor or taking a walk. The patients performed the arm swinging exercise while watching a video tape everyday for a period of 3.4 weeks. Of the 25 patients, 22 completed the exercise program. Following the program, these patients showed significant improvements in their walking times for a 20m walk (10 m, return, 10 m) (before/after=29.6/24.3 sec, p=0.002) and in the step length (before/after=43.7/50.1 cm, p<0.001). Frozen gait was a negative factor to complete the programs. Improvement of gait speed after the exercise was related with less frequency of cadence. Loss of arm swinging in PD may be associated with a disturbance in the internal rhythm formation process. Arm swinging exercises are one of the exercise methods that use rhythmic cues. This study suggests that a videotaped arm swinging-based home exercise therapy is effective in such patients.

Objective: The aim of this preliminary study was to assess whether traditional Japanese massage therapy confers benefits to body and mind not only in healthy women but also cancer survivors. Design: A case control study Settings/Location: Tsukuba University of Technology, Ibaraki, Japan Subjects: Five women who underwent surgery for uterine cervical or endometrial cancer (stage 1a1-2a; cancer survivors group) and five healthy women of the same generation (healthy women group) were recruited. All had chronic muscle stiffness of the neck and shoulder and wanted to receive massage therapy. Interventions: All participants received traditional Japanese massage therapy consisting of eight 40-min massage sessions over 4 weeks. Outcome Measures: Visual analogue scale (VAS) to assess the severity of the subjective symptom of muscle stiffness in the neck and shoulder; salivary cortisol, secretory immunoglobulin A (s-IgA), and chromogranin A (CgA) from saliva; state anxiety, trait anxiety, and depression. Results: Regarding immediate changes in variables by therapy, there were significant differences between the cancer survivors group and the healthy women group in VAS, s-IgA, and CgA. VAS, salivary cortisol, and state anxiety scores decreased, and s-IgA and CgA increased in both groups. After the four weeks of sessions, there were significant differences between the cancer survivors group and the healthy women group in VAS, CgA, and depression. VAS, trait anxiety, and depression scores decreased in both groups. Conclusions: These results imply that traditional Japanese massage therapy may confer physical and psychological benefits to cancer survivors as well as to healthy women. Further studies with a larger sample size are needed.

  On December 11, 2013, we visited Baden, a hot spring town in Switzerland. The natural hot spring water at Baden contains sulfur, is 46.5°C with a pH of 6.43, and is used in both drinking and bathing therapies. In addition to the hot spring, the hotel spa contains a massage parlor for medical massage, relaxing massage, cosmetic massage, or various other types of massage. Previous studies have reported a preference in about half the Swiss population for hospitals that offer complementary and alternative medicine. Also, acupuncture, manual therapy, and massage are frequently used in such facilities. Medical Center Baden has both a medical department and a therapeutic department. In the medical department, medical doctors practice manual medicine (manuelle Medizin) and in the therapeutic department, physical therapists (Physiothera-peuten) practice various kinds of physical therapy (Physiotherapie) such as manual therapy (manuelle Therapie), kinetics (funktionelle Bewegungslehre), biomechanics, respiratory therapy, proprioceptive neuromuscular facilitation, and electrotherapy/ultrasound. Medical massage therapists (medizinische Masseure) in the therapeutic department practice various kinds of massage including classic massage, manipulative massage, reflexology, connective tissue massage, manual lymphatic drainage, and Fango (a type of pelotherapy). These divisions indicate that the practices of massage and manual therapy in German-speaking Switzerland are sorted and named individually by the stimulated anatomical tissue and by type of functional and physical stimulation. In contrast, Japanese manual therapy, Anma massage therapy is holistic and based on the patient’s subjective physical and mental state. These are characteristic features of Eastern Asian medicine, which tends toward whole-body, individualized treatments.