Acupuncture for Acute Pain, US Military Discusses Using Acupuncture to Treat Soldiers with Acute Pain

The US military is discussing acupuncture for treating acute pain. A NIH workshop in Bethesda, MD, was attended by members from the Department of Defense (DoD), National Institutes of Health (NIH), and National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM). The participants wanted to evaluate treating acute pain in active-duty military personnel. They discussed how stress, genetics, and other factors would influence acute pain and the response to acupuncture. Also discussed were real-world experiences with acupuncture for traumatic acute pain. If the military is discussing using acupuncture to treat acute pain out on the battlefront, shouldn’t we be discussing using acupuncture to treat acute pain in pets in emergency hospitals. Acupuncture could be considered adjunctive therapy for dogs & cats that have been

·         hit by car, or have

·         fallen,

·         disc disease (acute Hansen’s type 1 disc disease),

·         sports injury including ACL tears,

·         acute internal pain, such as pancreatitis.

                                                                           

For more information on this discussion, look for J Altern Complement Med. 2012 Sep 28.  DoD-NCCAM/NIH Workshop  on Acupuncture for Treatment of Acute Pain. The authors were Edwards E, Louis Belard J, Glowa J, Khalsa P, Weber W, Huntley K. 1 Division of Extramural Research, National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine , Bethesda, MD.

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