The Benefits of Battlefield Acupuncture for Soldiers Fighting In War Zones
Currently, painkillers and psychiatric medicines are the most prescribed treatments across the US military. Sadly, these drugs have increased the number of violent suicides to levels never before seen in history. Treatments using mind-altering psychiatric medications that lead to very serious side effects that promote violence are frequently prescribed to soldiers suffering from Traumatic Brain Injuries (TBIs). The number of soldiers who have been diagnosed with TBI is 200,000, a staggering figure.
Those lethal medications recklessly prescribed by doctors often come with detrimental effects, more so when the patient has a history of substance abuse and a preexisting PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder) condition. One glaring example of the consequences of this would be the massacre in Afghanistan by a US officer of 16 civilians. The officer has a history of treatment of psychiatric medications.
To its credit, the U.S. military has initiated research into the use of battlefield acupuncture as a safer alternative to several lethal drugs rather than to keep on relying on those toxic pharmaceutical products (that overly priced, as well), to help alleviate the conditions of the soldiers.
Acupuncture is an ancient Chinese medical procedure that is so effective and simple to use. Our military has recognized the urgency of knowing how to harness its power. United States Air Force doctors being deployed to Afghanistan and Iraq are learning how to use battlefield acupuncture. As expected this 5,000 year-old treatment has produced wonderful results.
Now, all USAF physicians utilize acupuncture as one of their tools for emergency care not just on bases back home but also in frontline hospitals.
What Is Battlefield Acupuncture?
Battlefield acupuncture is a term that was first coined by Col. Richard MD, PhD, in 2001. Dr. Niemtzow currently works as a consultant to the Surgeon General of the Air for Force alternative and complementary medicine. He also serves a U.S. Air Force military medical doctor who practices acupuncture on a full-time basis.
Acupuncture utilizes fiilform needles inserted into five specific acupoints located at the external ear; within five minutes of the needle insertion, the pain vanishes. Its effects can last up to a week or even longer. Each patient responds differently to the treatment and treatment can go on for twice a week to a month or longer. In some instances, longer treatment may be needed.
In the US military, gold semi-permanent needles are used in battlefield acupuncture treatment. They are inserted into specific acupoints of the outer ear and within a day or two are left to fall out on their own. Oftentimes after the needles are inserted, they are manipulated in certain ways for around 10 minutes to enhance stimulation. This procedure is the same as that of traditional ear acupuncture although the former makes use of short needles designed to fit under the soldier’s combat helmet so that the soldier can continue with his missions while the needles are stuck to his ears to alleviate pain.
A Safe, Quick, and Effective Pain-Relieving Treatment
The Acupuncture Today magazine featured an interesting article written by John Amaro, a licensed US acupuncturist. This article discussed the first use of battlefield acupuncture at Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Germany in 2008.
Amaro wrote about one of the pain specialists at the medical center who said that he experienced a 50% decrease in pain of his chronic upper back and shoulder pain that he had been suffering for several years. Because of this groundbreaking success, the specialist utilized the treatment to his most challenging patients who experienced little relief from conventional pain therapies. Within minutes of the insertion of the needles, several of these patients reported a 75% decrease of their pain. Normally, a 25% mitigation of pain would be considered satisfactory with conventional painkillers; therefore we can see that battlefield acupuncture can be oftentimes a superior treatment for pain compared to conventional painkilling medications.
Long been known to be quite a potent treatment for alleviating acute pains, auriculotherapy or ear acupuncture has proven more effective than body acupuncture for the relief of pain. Amaro and other qualified acupuncturists have witnessed significant results when electronic and low-level laser stimulation is directly applied to the points. The acupuncture needles are usually stimulated with these two stimulation-boosting techniques for around 10 minutes.
The acupoints used to treat chronic and acute pains can also be used effectively for the relief of stress- related and psychological-related conditions such as neurasthenia, neurosis, and anxiety.
The Importance of These Statistics to the U.S. military
According to the PBS Frontline documentary The Wounded Platoon, before the US invasion of Iraq, US soldiers in war zones did not take psychiatric drugs. Then around 2007, the number of deployed troops taking sleeping pills and antidepressants rose dramatically to more than 20,000. Those medications enabled PTSD soldiers to stay in combat when they otherwise could not.
The side effects of the most commonly prescribed painkillers include stroke, heart attack, drowsiness, vomiting, dizziness, constipation, nausea, and abdominal bleeding besides the fact that addiction to these drugs can be a deadly disease.
Battlefield acupuncture has the power to aid in the alleviation of pain and often make the need to take pain killing drugs for chronic and acute pain totally unnecessary which helps the patient avoid the side effects of these drugs, not to mention acupuncture being simple and safe to use, and cost-effective, as well. That being said, battlefield acupuncture was not designed to totally replace standard medical care for war-related injuries.
Military personnel, veterans, and soldiers suffering from physical injuries, depression, TBIs, PTSD, and other ailments now have the option of using an alternative therapy capable of managing their pain without the harmful side effects of pharmaceutical and psychiatric medications. Patients are subjected to no or little discomfort besides experiencing virtually zero complications.
Not only is battlefield acupuncture very easy to learn, it can be taught to anyone in a very short period of time. It is a treatment where the patient is guaranteed good results within minutes after its completion.