Acupuncture for Veterans

By Chris Helmstetter, LAc

The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is recently in the news for all the wrong reasons.  One of the main criticisms is the lengthy wait for America's veterans to get medical appointments and treatments.  Veterans often deal with more complex and more intense medical issues than the general population.  Disruptions in care and limited medical options exacerbate their issues.  But even while the VA struggles to care for its veterans, it does try to listen to their needs.  

The biggest health concern amongst this population is chronic pain and its over-medication through narcotics.  To tackle this problem the VA set-up the Opiod Safety Initiative last year.  It also gave veterans access to alternative treatments for pain approved by the National Center for Complimentary and Alternative Medicine at the National Institutes for Health.  One of the main alternative treatments now offered by the VA is acupuncture.

This spring, the US Senate Committee on Veterans Affairs looked at increasing therapies such as acupuncture and yoga, since over 50% of all veterans eligible for VA health care report dealing with chronic pain.  Our local VA in Durham now pays for veterans to receive up to 18 acupuncture treatments over a three month period.  Triangle Acupuncture Clinic has worked with many veterans over the past year and we see more and more as access increases.

As acupuncturists, veterans have been fantastic group of people to work with.  They are hardworking people, many with families,  some of whom are currently training for new careers.  While many have difficult health concerns that are chronic since their days of active military service, they are all open to new ways of improving their lives.  They truly want to feel better, and their humor, humility and perseverance give new meaning to our experience of helping others heal. Hopefully the VA continues to improve in all areas, and acupuncture's role in offering positive outcomes grows with it.
 

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