Expanding Medical Acupuncture to Promote Balance: The Role of Cerebellar Functioning

Conventional neurology teaches that the cerebellum is a regulator of balance; smoothness; and synergy of coordinated movement, speech, and oculomotor activity. Recent discoveries have expanded the understanding of the role of the cerebellum in affective behavior, executive functioning, and movement. Medical acupuncture treatments that can access the cerebellum and influence treatment choices are reviewed in this article. As practitioners consider medical acupuncture patients, it is valuable to be mindful of the inordinate role that the cerebellum can play in disturbances of affective behavior, executive function, and all aspects of movement.