Monday, March 17, 2008

I'd never heard of "Battlefield Acupuncture" until today, when I read a paper in a journal called Medical Acupuncture.  Dr. Richard C. Niemtzow, who appears to be an air force colonel, developed a system of ear acupuncture to treat acute pain quickly and efficiently.  He uses five specific points in the ear and treats them each with a small ear tack, which stays in place for 3-4 days.  The paper explains that this method was conceived after 9/11 and has promise for treating pain on the military battlefield.  Wow, I think this quite an innovative use for acupuncture.  But, I wonder if soldiers in China used these methods thousands of years ago and we're reinventing the wheel once again?

http://www.liebertonline.com/doi/abs/10.1089/acu.2007.0603