Objective To explore the effect of tendon-softening and pain-relieving acupuncture on different types of pain in Parkinson′s disease. Methods Eighty-four patients with Parkinson′s disease and pain were included. According to Chandhur pain classification standards

patients were classified into five pain groups

which were skeletal muscle pain（22 cases）

radicular pain（10 cases）

dyskinesia pain（34 cases）

pain caused by inability to sit still or fidget（14 cases）

and others（4 cases）. All patients continued to be treated with conventional oral western medicine for Parkinson′s disease

stopped taking painkillers

and received tendon-softening and pain-relieving acupuncture. Even supplementation and drainage needling method was used

with needle retention for 30 minutes

once daily

5 times as a course for two courses. Traditional Chinese medicine（TCM） symptoms scores

visual analogue scale（VAS） score

King′s Parkinson′s disease pain scale（KPPS） score

unified Parkinson′s disease rating scale（UPDRS） score were assessed before and after treatment for different types of pain group. Results Of the 84 patients

no cases were clinically cured; 21 cases were significantly improved; 48 cases were moderately improved; five cases were slightly improved; and 10 cases were ineffective; the number of effective cases were 74

and the total effective rate was 88.1%. After treatment

the TCM symptoms score

VAS score

KPPS pain frequency score and total score

and UPDRS score all significantly decreased（P<0.05 or P<0.01）. Due to the small number of patients with other types of pain

they were not included for subgroup analyses. After treatment

TCM symptoms score

VAS score

KPPS total score

and UPDRS score in skeletal muscle pain group significantly decreased（P<0.05 or P<0.01）; in pain group caused by inability to sit still or fidget

the VAS score

KPPS total score and pain frequency score decreased（P<0.05 or P<0.01）

while no significant change was seen in UPDRS score（P>0.05）; there were no significant differences in the VAS score

KPPS score and UPDRS score of radicular pain and dyskinesia pain group after treatment（P>0.05）

while TCM symptoms score in both significantly decreased after treatment（P<0.05）. Conclusion Tendon-softening and pain-relieving acupuncture has certain effects on improving pain in patients with Parkinson′s disease; the effect is obvious for skeletal muscle pain and pain caused by inability to sit still or fidget

but is not significant for radicular pain and dyskinesia pain.