title: Actigraph evaluation of acupuncture for treating restless legs syndrome.
abstract: We evaluated the effects of acupuncture in patients with restless legs syndrome (RLS) by actigraph recordings. Among the 38 patients with RLS enrolled, 31 (M = 12, F = 19; mean age, 47.2 ± 9.7 years old) completed the study. Patients were treated with either standard acupuncture (n = 15) or randomized acupuncture (n = 16) in a single-blind manner for 6 weeks. Changes in nocturnal activity (NA) and early sleep activity (ESA) between week 0 (baseline), week 2, week 4, and week 6 were assessed using leg actigraph recordings, the International Restless Legs Syndrome Rating Scale (IRLSRS), and Epworth Sleepiness Scale (ESS). Standard but not randomized acupuncture reduced the abnormal leg activity of NA and ESA significantly in week 2, week 4, and week 6 based on the changes in the clinical scores for IRLSRS and ESS in week 4 and week 6 compared with the baseline. No side effects were observed. The results indicate that standard acupuncture might improve the abnormal leg activity in RLS patients and thus is a potentially suitable integrative treatment for long-term use.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Shuguang Hospital Affiliated to Shanghai University of TCM, 528, Zhangheng Road, Pu-Dong New Area, Shanghai 201203, China.
authors.forename: Weidong
authors.identifier: 0000-0002-0380-4210
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Pan
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Shuguang Hospital Affiliated to Shanghai University of TCM, 528, Zhangheng Road, Pu-Dong New Area, Shanghai 201203, China.
authors.forename: Mingzhe
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Shuguang Hospital Affiliated to Shanghai University of TCM, 528, Zhangheng Road, Pu-Dong New Area, Shanghai 201203, China.
authors.forename: Mao
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Pudong New Area Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine, 460, Xiuchuan Road, Pu-Dong New Area, Shanghai 201200, China.
authors.forename: Qiudong
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Center for Disease Biology and Integrative Medicine, Graduate School of Medicine, The University of Tokyo, 7-3-1 Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-8655, Japan.
authors.forename: Shin
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kwak
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Shuguang Hospital Affiliated to Shanghai University of TCM, 528, Zhangheng Road, Pu-Dong New Area, Shanghai 201203, China.
authors.forename: Wenfei
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Jiang
authors.affiliation: Educational Physiology Laboratory, Graduate School of Education, The University of Tokyo, 7-3-1 Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-0033, Japan.
authors.forename: Yoshiharu
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Yamamoto