During an acupuncture treatment, fine needles (as fine as a piece of hair) are inserted into "acupuncture points," which are thought to stimulate the body’s nervous system to release certain chemicals in the muscles, spinal cord, and brain which in turn release other chemicals and hormones in the body that may help to improve pain and other medical complaints.Battlefield Acupuncture
The military medical community has been using all sorts of alternative therapies — yoga, meditation, even animal-petting — to ease the strains of post-traumatic stress disorder FOR returning troops. One of the non-traditional treatments will be used in a war zone for the first time.“The Air Force will begin teaching ‘battlefield acupuncture’ early next year to physicians deploying to Iraq and Afghanistan,” reports the Baltimore Sun’s David Wood. “The initiative marks the first high-level endorsement of acupuncture by the traditionally conservative military medical community, officials said.”
Niemtzow, an oncologist, also sees acupuncture as a way to treat obesity and macular degeneration.
Meanwhile, other Eastern-inspired techniques are slowly spreading throughout the services. Walter Reed hospital is using yoga to combat PTSD. Submariners and Camp Lejeune marines are using “Warrior Mind Training” to improve mental focus. And the Army is spending $4 million to study various alternative-therapies, including a research project that examines “how holding and petting an animal can treat PTSD.”
