At Ease -The Army gives Acupuncture a Shot for Ailing Troops

In 2012, the Department of Veterans Affairs reported that at least 40 percent of veterans entering the VA system are coping with pain by taking multiple pain-killers on a daily basis with mixed effectiveness.

Because this is becoming a chronic problem for veterans, Army doctors have been given a directive from top brass to rethink “the pill for every ill” treatment strategy that has been the ordinary care strategy for everything from physical pain to the emotional stress of war. 

 As reported by National Public Radio in February 2012, for the 47,000 troops that have been wounded in Iraq and Afghanistan, acupuncture treatments for pain may give relief from pain without the constant dosing of pain-killers and their side-effects. 

Col. Kevin Galloway is  in charge of carrying out recommendations from the Army's Pain Management Task Force, which have begun to focus heavily on other therapies like acupuncture to help with pain management.  As Col. Kevin Galloway put it, “There is nothing like pain to make someone open-minded about trying regular acupuncture treatments for pain management.”  Galloway says that, "You can throw fairly cheap pharmaceuticals at the problem now and push the problem to someone else later if you're not really working on what the genesis of the pain is.”  Galloway says if soldiers get hooked on high-powered painkillers, the Department of Veterans Affairs may be dealing with the side effects for decades to come. 

Their are many skeptics in the military about the effectiveness of acupuncture  for ailing troops.  Harriet Hall, a former Air Force flight surgeon, shares the skepticism found in many corners of the medical military community.  Even though new academic studies from places like Duke University back up acupuncture as an alternative to medication. Hall believes that acupuncture does no more than a sugar pill. To offer a placebo, she says, is unethical.

At the end of the day, regular acupuncture treatments has helped ease pain for some of the troops who want to use acupuncture to help control chronic pain management.  Testimonies like those coming from Sgt. Rick Remalia help validate the positive role of regular acupuncture treatments for chronic pain management.  

Remalia broke his back, hip and pelvis during a rollover caused by a pair of rocket-propelled grenades in Afghanistan. He still walks with a cane and suffers from mild traumatic brain injury. Pain is an everyday occurrence.

"I've had a lot of treatment, and this is the first treatment that I've had where I've been like, OK, wow, I've actually seen a really big difference," he says.