Acupuncture for the Trauma Spectrum Response: Scientific Foundations, Challenges to Implementation
Abstract
The long wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have produced extensive and often repeated trauma to United States service members and their families. These injuries occur to the mind, the brain, the body, and the soul. The current approach to management of these injuries follows the standard medical model that attempts to isolate the pathophysiological locations and processes affected by the injury and provide specialized care for that part of the person: psychological treatment for mind injuries, neurological treatment for brain injuries, and surgical and rehabilitation approaches for body injuries. This model is overwhelmingly dominated by the use of drugs for symptom management. Yet, research has shown that, no matter where an injury is located, its impact and the healing responses to it cut across these boundaries, resulting in a common symptomatic and functional spectrum. The authors of this article have called this the war-related trauma spectrum response (wrTSR) and propose a better approach to this spectrum, which is to induce whole-person healing responses not specialized to addressing the injury cause or location. Acupuncture appears to be such an approach. This article reviews the conceptual and scientific foundations of wrTSR, makes the case for managing it in a holistic manner, and reviews the evidence for using acupuncture as a treatment across the trauma response spectrum. The article then discusses the challenges to implementing acupuncture in the military and veterans systems and proposes direct comparative effectiveness, health services, and program evaluation approaches to providing the evidence needed to broaden acupuncture's use. The authors will test the efficacy of acupuncture on Health Related Quality of Life (HRQoL) and wrTSR comorbidities in service members with TBI and PTSD drawn from several Department of Defense (DoD) and Veterans Affairs (VA) sites across the country.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Jan 01, 2011
- Accession Number
- ADA554740
Entities
People
- Joan A. Walter
- Matt Fritts
- Richard C. Niemtzow
- Wayne B. Jonas
Organizations
- Samueli Institute