Battlefield acupuncture appears to be an effective therapy for pain management

Abstract

Introduction: The Department of Defense has been training primary care providers in battlefield acupuncture (BFA), a subtype of auricular acupuncture, as an adjunct therapy for pain management. Methods: The objective of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness and safety of BFA for pain management in an outpatient Internal Medicine clinic staffed by resident physicians. The target population for this single-center prospective cohort study were military beneficiaries at a medical treatment facility located at the Wright-Patterson Air Force Base. Participants who met inclusion criteria were treated with BFA in addition to routine standard care for pain (n = 69). The control group was composed of participants who received routine standard care only without BFA (n = 27). Pain was assessed by a self-reported pain scale (0–10) at the time of encounter, immediately after BFA (for the intervention group), then at 24 and 48 h afterwards. Results: Mean pain for the intervention group decreased from 5.45 before BFA to 3.29 immediately following BFA to 2.21 at 24 h and to 2.10 at 48 h (p < 0.001). Thus, at all three post-treatment time points, mean decrease in pain surpassed a two-point reduction, deemed to be a clinically important difference. The BFA group had a greater reduction in pain compared to the no intervention group at 24 h (3.14 vs 0.59, p < 0.001) and at 48 h (3.26 vs 0.96, p < 0.001). Four intervention group participants (6%) reported an adverse reaction (three with pain at the insertion site) or complication (one with superficial infection). Conclusion: BFA provided by Internal Medicine residents appears to be a safe and effective adjunct therapy for pain management in an outpatient setting, but requires further validation by randomized controlled trials.

Battlefield Acupuncture for Palliation of Periprocedural and Postprocedural Pain during Platelet-Rich Plasma Injections

“…Providing patients with sufficient information on anticipated pain during and following the PRP injection, in addition to nonpharmaceutical palliative strategies for mitigation, is certainly warranted. Extrapolating the palliative benefits of BFA from the realm of chronic pain management and postoperative pain mitigation (14,15), BFA is one nonpharmaceutical approach that clinicians could consider based on the potential benefit and low risk associated with the procedure, especially in the midst of the opioid epidemic. Future research to substantiate the clinical utility of this approach is warranted.…”

“…It is a noninvasive, low-risk, and expedient intervention with minimal side effects. BFA has been routinely used in the treatment of chronic or postsurgical pain in active-duty military service members and their families (13,14). The added benefit of using semipermanent Aiguille Semi-Permanente needles in BFA is that they may remain in the ear for up to a week at a time and may lead to persistent pain reduction well beyond initial patient contact (15).…”

Effectiveness and safety of auricular acupuncture on adjuvant analgesia in patients with total knee arthroplasty: a randomized sham-controlled trial

“…Two non-TKA randomized controlled trials (RCTs) (12,13) have compared the use of indwelling intradermal needles in postoperative analgesia, with the results demonstrating that indwelling intradermal needles are effective in postoperative analgesia. The needles (14-17) used in previous postoperative analgesia studies were 0.2-0.22 mm in diameter and 1.2-1.5 mm in length, but the needle used in this study was 0.4 mm in diameter and 2.1 mm in length, which is larger in diameter and longer in the body than the conventional needles; thus, it is hoped that the needle will also provide better analgesia.…”