Battlefield acupuncture: Opening the door for acupuncture in Department of Defense/Veteran's Administration health care

Walker, Patricia Hinton; Pock, Arnyce; Ling, Catherine; Kwon, Kyung “Nancy”; Vaughan, Megan

doi:10.1016/j.outlook.2016.07.008

Cited by 38 publications

(41 citation statements)

References 17 publications

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“…The military has taken a keen interest in a specific acupuncture protocol known as "battlefield acupuncture," in which small stud needles are used at traditional auricular points and stay in place for 3 to 4 days. 110…”

Section: Nonpharmacologic Approaches Physicalmentioning

confidence: 99%

Nonopioid strategies for managing chronic pain

Herndon¹,

Daniels²

2018

Pharmacy Today

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Section: Nonpharmacologic Approaches Physicalmentioning

confidence: 99%

Nonopioid strategies for managing chronic pain

Herndon¹,

Daniels²

2018

Pharmacy Today

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

“…Battle eld Acupuncture (BFA), an auricular acupuncture protocol developed to treat acute and chronic pain in austere environments [14], may provide an integrative pain treatment option to decrease prescription medication usage for a myriad of musculoskeletal conditions [15][16][17][18]. The Technique was taught and adopted throughout all branches of the Department of Defense (DoD) over the past two decades in an effort to provide alternatives to side effect laden prescription medications [18]. Despite wide-scale adoption by military medical providers, there is inconsistent evidence of BFA's effectiveness in reducing pain and opioid medication use.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Effectiveness of Battlefield Acupuncture in Addition to Standard Physical Therapy Treatment after Shoulder Surgery: A Protocol for a Randomized Clinical Trial

Crowell

Brindle

Mason

et al. 2020

Preprint

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Introduction: There is a large incidence of shoulder instability among active young athletes and military personnel. Shoulder stabilization surgery is the commonly employed intervention for treating individuals with instability. Following surgery, a substantial proportion of individuals experience acute post-operative pain, which is usually managed with opioid pain medications. Unfortunately, the extended use of opioid medications can have adverse effects that impair function and reduce military operational readiness, but there are currently few alternatives. However, Battlefield Acupuncture (BFA) is a minimally invasive therapy demonstrating promise as a non-pharmaceutical intervention for managing acute post-operative pain.Methods: This is a single-blind randomized clinical trial featuring a 2x5 mixed-model factorial design. The two independent variables are intervention (2 levels; standard physical therapy and standard physical therapy plus Battlefield Acupuncture) and time (5 levels; 24-hours, 48-hours, 72-hours, 1-week, and 4-weeks post shoulder stabilization surgery). The primary dependent variable is worst and average pain as measured on the Visual Analog Scale. Secondary outcomes include medication usage, Profile of Mood States, and Global Rating of Change.Discussion: The magnitude of the effect of BFA is uncertain; current studies report confidence intervals of between group differences that include MCIDs between intervention and control groups. The results of this study may help determine if BFA is an effective adjunct to physical therapy in reducing pain and opioid usage in acute pain conditions. Trial registration: ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT04094246. Registered 16 September 2019, http://clinicaltrials.gov/NCT04094246.

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“…Battle eld Acupuncture (BFA), an auricular acupuncture protocol developed to treat acute and chronic pain in austere environments [18], may provide an integrative pain treatment option to decrease prescription medication usage for a myriad of musculoskeletal conditions [19][20][21][22]. The mechanisms of pain reduction by BFA are not fully understood.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…BFA has been taught and adopted throughout all branches of the Department of Defense (DoD) over the past two decades to provide alternatives to side effect laden prescription medications [22]. Despite widescale adoption by military medical providers, there is inconsistent evidence of BFA's effectiveness in reducing pain and opioid medication use.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Effectiveness of Battlefield Acupuncture in Addition to Standard Physical Therapy Treatment after Shoulder Surgery: A Protocol for a Randomized Clinical Trial

Crowell

Brindle

Mason

et al. 2020

Preprint

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Introduction: There is a large incidence of shoulder instability among active young athletes and military personnel. Shoulder stabilization surgery is the commonly employed intervention for treating individuals with instability. Following surgery, a substantial proportion of individuals experience acute post-operative pain, which is usually managed with opioid pain medications. Unfortunately, the extended use of opioid medications can have adverse effects that impair function and reduce military operational readiness, but there are currently few alternatives. However, Battlefield Acupuncture (BFA) is a minimally invasive therapy demonstrating promise as a non-pharmaceutical intervention for managing acute post-operative pain.Methods: This is a parallel, two-arm, single-blind randomized clinical trial. The two independent variables are intervention (2 levels; standard physical therapy and standard physical therapy plus Battlefield Acupuncture) and time (5 levels; 24-hours, 48-hours, 72-hours, 1-week, and 4-weeks post shoulder stabilization surgery). The primary dependent variables is worst and average pain as measured on the Visual Analog Scale. Secondary outcomes include medication usage, Profile of Mood States, and Global Rating of Change.Discussion: The magnitude of the effect of BFA is uncertain; current studies report confidence intervals of between group differences that include minimal clinically important differences between intervention and control groups. The results of this study may help determine if BFA is an effective adjunct to physical therapy in reducing pain and opioid usage in acute pain conditions. Trial registration: ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT04094246. Registered 16 September 2019, http://clinicaltrials.gov/NCT04094246.

show abstract

Battlefield acupuncture: Opening the door for acupuncture in Department of Defense/Veteran's Administration health care

Cited by 38 publications

References 17 publications

Nonopioid strategies for managing chronic pain

Nonopioid strategies for managing chronic pain

The Effectiveness of Battlefield Acupuncture in Addition to Standard Physical Therapy Treatment after Shoulder Surgery: A Protocol for a Randomized Clinical Trial

The Effectiveness of Battlefield Acupuncture in Addition to Standard Physical Therapy Treatment after Shoulder Surgery: A Protocol for a Randomized Clinical Trial

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