New Hope for Essential Tremors

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Surprising New Treatments for Essential Tremor

Maybe you know someone with essential tremor. You may have noticed their hands shaking rhythmically when they reach for an object or try to do tasks.

Although a tremor can be associated with several neurological conditions, including Parkinson’s disease and others, in essential tremor the tremor is the only abnormal symptom.

As explained in Penn State Health, “Hand tremors often emerge when people try to do regular activities: eating, drinking, shaving or applying lipstick,” said Dr. Pratik Talati, a functional neurosurgeon and director of focused ultrasound for Penn State Health Neurosurgery. “These movements can be very disruptive to people’s lives.”

Imagine trying to do everyday tasks such as writing, typing, taking a drink, raising a fork of food to your mouth, applying makeup, pressing small keys on a phone. It is easy to see why a tremor would become very frustrating.

While it may be reassuring to patients with an essential tremor to know that the condition is not the result of a more worrisome disease, just the tremor itself can be very challenging. Essential tremor used to be referred to medically as “benign essential tremor” to connote that there was no greater neurological disease present. But the word benign effectively miscommunicates the idea that the condition is harmless. Now the condition is simply referred to as essential tremor.

Most doctors will tell patients there is no cure for the condition and that it can only be managed by drugs such as propranolol and primidone. Patients are often urged to avoid caffeine, which can aggravate the symptoms. They may be encouraged to use heavy tools or utensils, since that helps lessen the tremor.

Recently, new breakthroughs in treatment have been discovered that have proven to be helpful for patients with essential tremor.

While some types of brain surgery have been used in extreme or severe cases, less invasive treatments are now being found to be effective. In the article mentioned earlier in Penn State Health, a treatment using focused ultrasound beams was featured.

During the focused ultrasound treatment, the patient is awake and positioned on a table while ultrasound devices are targeted to a specific point in the brain that controls movement. The treatment is performed using an MRI machine.

Almost immediately after the procedure the patient will often see dramatic results. Some patients have noticed extraordinary improvements in their ability to write or sign their name, for example.

The results of the focused ultrasound can last for several years. It is done as an outpatient procedure and requires a couple of hours. In Middle Tennessee, Vanderbilt is listed as providing the service. 

While the focused ultrasound is a treatment reliant on very new technology, it is also interesting to note that a modern version of an ancient treatment is also very effective for helping patients with essential tremor.

Acupuncture, in particular, scalp acupuncture has been shown to be very effective for patients with essential tremor. Conventional acupuncture using body points has been reported to be up to 73.3% effective for essential tremor. A more specific, modern type of acupuncture called scalp acupuncture, has been reported to be up to 96.7% effective.

In our office we have used Medical Acupuncture for thousands of patients for more than 3 decades with very good success. I am constantly impressed by how well patients can respond to this painless, comfortable, relaxing treatment.

Our Medical Acupuncture can be used for a wide range of conditions, notably chronic pain. Persistent or recurring pain accounts for probably 80% or more of our patients’ primary issue. Other issues include hormonal conditions, anxiety and depression, allergies, and neurological conditions.

For neurological conditions, newer forms of acupuncture including scalp acupuncture are often more effective than conventional acupuncture. As the name implies, points on the scalp are chosen for primary stimulation.

To understand how acupuncture can impact the way the brain functions, it may be helpful to think of how an electroencephalograph (EEG) works to monitor brain function.

An EEG is a sensitive electronic technology that monitors brain activity by placing tiny electrodes at specific points on the head. You may have seen patients being prepared for an EEG. A technician will position 21 electrodes at specific points on the scalp. These points are selected based on a brain mapping system known as the International 10-20 System. The 10-20 system is a zonal map of the function of the brain that allows the electrodes to measure electrical activity of various parts of the brain.

In the same way that an electrode can measure electrical brain waves while adhered to the scalp, acupuncture needles placed on the scalp have been shown to be able to affect the function of the brain. When we use scalp acupuncture, we use the same 10-20 system to select points.

Scalp acupuncture has been found to be effective for helping patients with neurological conditions such as migraines, PTSD, traumatic brain injury TBI, anxiety, depression, complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS), and much more.

Scalp acupuncture is a modern clinical application of the principles and practices of medical acupuncture. It is developing rapidly into a widely effective form of therapy for a range of neurological, hormonal, and other conditions. A recent study carried out by Harvard researchers at Massachusetts General Hospital has developed more specific targeting strategy for scalp acupuncture to affect brain function. Results have been very promising.

If you know someone dealing with essential tremor, please encourage them to call us ASAP.  We will answer your questions.

Dr. Mark Kestner