http://goo.gl/NKYQn2
Integrative medicine (IM) is coming of age in the U.S. military, with the first example of widespread implementation of an IM technique being the popular use of acupuncture to treat pain in combat settings. The successful integration of this IM technique, its use by military medical acupuncturists, and implications for introducing other IM programs in the future are examined in an Editorial published in The Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine, a peer-reviewed publication from Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers. The article is available free on The Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine website until May 5, 2016.
The authors describe the U.S. military's implementation of the auricular Battlefield Acupuncture (BFA) technique in its Warrior Transition Unit clinics, which treat large numbers of soldiers injured in combat. They highlight the methods that contributed to the successful integration of BFA including strategies to introduce and encourage the use of acupuncture, administrative needs of the program, and data collection to assess outcomes. The model developed here and the lessons learned will be useful as the military explores additional IM techniques.