The US Military turns to Acupuncture to Help Our Soldiers

This article in the Statesman cites multiple ways in which the military is beginning to use the skills of acupuncturists. In my clinic we have been seeing veterans of both Gulf wars for many years now and have seen some truly amazing results in treating PTSD and its associated symptoms as well as physical pain. 

"... A combat medic, Bailes returned to Iraq for a second tour in 2005 and came home in 2006 with a different kind of pain: emotional anguish, nightmares and insomnia. He was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder, but antidepressants made him feel worse, he said. Again, he turned to acupuncture — and recovered, he said. Now he's studying the more than 2,000-year-old Chinese practice of using hair-thin needles for healing and planning to make it his life's work..."

"..."The military, in many respects, is kind of a front-runner" in using alternative treatments, said Alexandra York, a research associate in military medical research at the Samueli Institute in Alexandria, Va., which studies alternative therapies. "I think it's because of the complexity of the conditions they see. It almost demands that other options be examined..."