November 11 is Veterans Day — a celebration to honor America's veterans for their patriotism, love of country, and willingness to serve and sacrifice for the common good. As part of the thanks we show to Veterans, we must continue to advocate for available and effective health care for our Veterans. So today we’re highlighting just a couple of ways integrative care is gaining support and increasing in availability for Veterans.

VA “Whole Health”

Given the prevalence of pain among the military and veteran populations, the Department of Defense and Veterans Health Administration have more recently committed to offering safe and practical nonpharmacological options for pain management. The director of VA’s Complementary and Integrative Health Evaluation Center, Dr. Stephanie Taylor, says, “Pain is extremely prevalent among Veterans and others, and there is a need for novel pain treatment approaches. Not everything works for everybody. You need as many effective tools in the toolbox as you can get.”

Equilibrium applauds the VA’s “Whole Health” initiative, which takes an evidence-based approach, focusing on each Veteran’s values, needs, and goals. Integrative and complementary forms of health care are the foundation of a budding personalized approach to care at VA.

In 2004 the VA started offering chiropractic care to all Veterans, serving over 37,000 patients by 2015. However, because Vets are not always able to access the care they need through established systems, Returning Veterans Project provides them with a network of care providers that offer free, high-quality care to Veterans. Our very own Dr. Cydney Keller is a RVP provider, inspired by Veterans she’s known who expressed difficulty navigating the VA system.

Battlefield Acupuncture

One effective therapy offered for immediate, short-term pain relief is battlefield acupuncture (BFA). BFA can be used, as the name suggests, in the field for quick pain relief, but can also be employed to manage pain once Veterans have returned home. In BFA, up to five sterile needles are placed in each ear at specific points. It’s thought that these needles stimulate the central nervous system and reduce the sensation of pain by affecting parts of the brain such as the hypothalamus.

In a VA study, more than 75% of patients reported an immediate decrease in pain. BFA was effective across a wide range of veterans, with many having preexisting chronic pain or physical or psychological conditions, although those with histories of opioid use experienced less improvement in pain intensity than others.

Some benefits of BFA:

• It can effectively control pain while reducing opioid use.

• It offers an option for patients with a substance use disorder.

• It may help with pain where conventional approaches have fallen short.

• It can restore patients’ hope for pain management and a better quality of life.

• It is easy to deliver.

• It is low-risk.

Opening the Door

Veteran care providers also hope that BFA may provide an opportunity for Veterans to move toward more self-management of their chronic pain. The short-term window of pain-relief offered by BFA might allow some patients to try other, more long-term management solutions such as yoga and tai chi.

This Veterans Day, help spread the word about the integrative care modalities available to Veterans!