Zhang YT, Zhang JJ, Zha BX, Fan YQ, Xu YB, Yang J, Zhang QP. Acupuncture for cervical dystonia associated with anxiety and depression: A case report. World J Clin Cases 2024; 12(1): 204-209 [PMID: 38292632 DOI: 10.12998/wjcc.v12.i1.204]
Corresponding Author of This Article
Jun Yang, Doctor, Chief Doctor, Professor, Acupuncture and Rehabilitation Department, First Affiliated Hospital of Anhui University of Chinese Medicine, No. 117 Meishan Road, Hefei 230031, Anhui Province, China. yangjunacup@126.com
Research Domain of This Article
Medicine, General & Internal
Article-Type of This Article
Case Report
Open-Access Policy of This Article
This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Ya-Ting Zhang, Yuan-Bo Xu, The First School of Clinical Medicine, Anhui University of Chinese Medicine, Hefei 230031, Anhui Province, China
Jin-Jing Zhang, Bi-Xiang Zha, Yin-Qiu Fan, Jun Yang, Acupuncture and Rehabilitation Department, First Affiliated Hospital of Anhui University of Chinese Medicine, Hefei 230031, Anhui Province, China
Qing-Ping Zhang, College of Acupuncture and Tuina, Anhui University of Chinese Medicine, Hefei 230031, Anhui Province, China
Author contributions: Yang J and Zhang QP conceived and designed the therapy of acupuncture; Yang J, Zhang JJ, and Zha BX contributed to the treatment of the case and collected all the data related to the case report; Zhang YT, Fan YQ, and Xu YB contributed to the writing and revising of the manuscript; all authors have read and approved the final manuscript.
Informed consent statement: Informed written consent was obtained from the patient for publication of this report and any accompanying images.
Conflict-of-interest statement: All the authors have no conflict of interest related to the manuscript.
CARE Checklist (2016) statement: The authors have read the CARE Checklist (2016), and the manuscript was prepared and revised according to the CARE Checklist (2016).
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Jun Yang, Doctor, Chief Doctor, Professor, Acupuncture and Rehabilitation Department, First Affiliated Hospital of Anhui University of Chinese Medicine, No. 117 Meishan Road, Hefei 230031, Anhui Province, China. yangjunacup@126.com
Received: October 24, 2023 Peer-review started: October 24, 2023 First decision: November 20, 2023 Revised: November 24, 2023 Accepted: December 14, 2023 Article in press: December 14, 2023 Published online: January 6, 2024
Abstract
BACKGROUND
Cervical dystonia (CD) is a type of muscle tone disorder that usually occurs in the neck muscles. Due to the intermittent or continuous involuntary contraction of the neck muscles, the head and neck are twisted and skewed and some postural abnormalities occur. Long-term abnormal posture or pain can cause negative emotions in patients, which can affect their quality of life.
CASE SUMMARY
This case report included a 37-year-old woman who was diagnosed with CD associated with anxiety and depression; the accompanying symptoms were head and neck tilt of approximately 90° to the right and mental abnormality. After two courses of acupuncture treatment, the patient’s head and neck can be maintained in a normal position, and the negative emotions can be relieved.
CONCLUSION
This case indicates that acupuncture can effectively improve CD and the emotional state and quality of life of patients, making it an effective alternative treatment for the condition.
Core Tip: Cervical dystonia (CD) is commonly accompanied by anxiety disorders, contributing substantially to the quality-of-life impairment of the patients. Currently, there is a lack of effective treatments without side effects. Thus, we propose the application of acupuncture as treatment, which could relieve muscle spasms and regulate balance and sedate the mind. Thus, acupuncture may be an effective and beneficial treatment option for CD with anxiety and depression.
