904 - Nonpharmacologic Pain Management through Battlefield Auricular Acupuncture

Objectives: Stemming from Eastern medicine, Battlefield Auricular Acupuncture (BFA) was developed by an Air Force Physician for immediate pain relief in fast-paced military settings. Today, BFA has been widely adopted and is frequently used within the Veterans Health Administration for nonpharmacologic pain management. Most BFA studies to date include only military and veteran populations. Because psychosocial factors influence pain perception, our primary objective was to determine whether the effect of BFA is different among an integrated population of veterans, active duty, and military dependents. Secondarily, we assessed whether the effect of BFA on pain depends on the types of pain complaints: back pain, neck pain, headache, one other uncategorized musculoskeletal complaint, or more than one complaint.

Design: A retrospective chart review was conducted at a single federal healthcare center. 471 patients (382 veterans, 46 active duty, 43 military dependents) received BFA from January 2019 through January 2021. Chart records indicated patients’ Defense & Veterans Pain Rating Scale (DVPRS) score out of 10 immediately pre- and post-BFA. We defined change in pain as the difference in post- and pre-BFA DVPRS scores. Patients with mild pain (pre-BFA ≤ 3) were excluded to avoid a floor effect.

Results: There were no significant differences in the change in pain based on military status (Veteran: 1.63, SD = 1.94; Active Duty: 1.48, SD = 2.12; Dependent: 1.64, SD = 2.21). Headache was alleviated the most (Headache: 2.90, SD = 2.48; p = 0.0001, One-Way ANOVA, Tukey’s post-hoc analysis; p < 0.01 in all comparisons) compared to all other groups (Back: 1.32, SD = 1.77; Neck: 1.05, SD =1.15; One other MSK: 1.53, SD = 1.69; More than one complaint = 1.71 SD = 2.12).

Conclusions: BFA offers immediate pain relief for various complaints independent of military status. BFA may be utilized effectively in non-military populations for nonpharmacologic pain management.