Acupuncture: a useful tool for health care in an operational medicine environment.

Acupuncture is a form of medical care that originated in China; it has evolved and progressed over thousands of years to become one of the most commonly used forms of health care throughout the world. Allopathic (Western) medicine has begun to seriously investigate and to use this system only in the past three decades. Although acupuncture's mechanisms for healing are not fully understood, it helps many conditions. Using acupuncture reduces or eliminates the need for expensive medications and the potential risk of adverse events resulting from medications, with cost savings and health benefits to patients. During a deployment of naval combat engineers to Iraq in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom, acupuncture was used in the health care of sailors, Marines, and soldiers. It objectively and subjectively improved the health of troops in the field. Troops were able to function while being treated, reducing or avoiding sick in quarters or light limited duty status and saving operational man-days. Acupuncture in the right hands can serve as a health force multiplier (amplifying a provider's clinical impact) and can be integrated into routine health care, whether in garrison or in the field.