Neurological disorder: Essential tremor (ET) and kinetic tremor

Essential tremor is commonly described as an action tremor (it intensifies when one tries to use the affected muscles) rather than a resting tremor; rigidity, such as is seen in Parkinson’s. It typically involves a tremor of the arms, hands or fingers but sometimes involving the head or other body parts during voluntary movements.

There are many treatment options depending on symptom severity. Caffeine and stress should be avoided, and good sleep is recommended. Conventional medication choices are beta blockers such as propranolol or alternately, nadolol and timolol. Atenolol and pindolol are not effective for tremor.The anti-epileptic primidone, topiramate, gabapentin and levetiracetam, or benzodiazepines like alprazolam are also used. When medications fail to control the tremor or the patient does not tolerate medication, botulinum toxin or deep brain stimulation may be considered in conventional medicine.

In Chinese Medicine, the condition belongs to the scope of "Liver Wind". The tremor, rigidity is due to deficiency of Liver Blood. Treatment principle is to nourish Yin and calm Liver wind. Therefore, LV and GB points are selected such as Bai Hui, Feng Chi, He Gu, Tai Chong plus some scalp needle points.