戦場鍼灸？ そう、それは実在し、軍は兵士の痛みと闘うために活用している
✅ 要約（日本語）
アメリカ軍は、オピオイドに代わる安全な疼痛管理法として「戦場鍼灸（Battlefield Acupuncture：BFA）」を導入しています。
BFAは耳に専用の微細な鍼を刺して痛みの神経伝達を遮断する施術で、即効性があり、副作用が少なく、薬物依存のリスクがありません。
2001年に空軍医のリチャード・ニムゾウ医師が開発し、軍医だけでなく衛生兵にも安全に施術できるよう教育可能です。
施術は簡便で、兵士が任務を中断せずに使用できる点が評価されています。
実際、初回の施術で約80％の患者に痛みの軽減効果が認められており、数日間効果が持続することも多く、依存や頻回な施術の必要もありません。
この方法により、複数の痛み止めや精神薬に頼ることなく、兵士の日常機能の回復や任務遂行能力の維持が期待されており、今後は統合医療の中での活用がさらに広がる見込みです。
🔹アメリカ軍が鍼灸を導入
米軍はオピオイド乱用対策の一環として、**古代中国発祥のホリスティック療法「鍼灸」**を治療手段として採用しました。特に「戦場鍼灸（Battlefield Acupuncture：BFA）」は、即効性のある痛みの緩和が可能で、依存のリスクがないため、制限なく使えるのが特徴です。
🔹BFAとは？
- 2001年に**米空軍のリチャード・ニムゾウ医師（Dr. Richard Niemtzow）**が開発
- 耳に専用の細い鍼（ASPニードル）を刺す施術
- 痛みを処理する脳の「帯状回（cingulate gyrus）」を刺激
- 脳の痛み処理を遮断・再構築する効果があるとされる
🔹軍隊での活用例
- 空軍の**リンダ・ヴー大佐（Col. Lynda Vu）**はカタールの現場でBFAを実施
- 投薬による副作用（眠気・アレルギー）を避け、即座に任務復帰が可能
- BFAはオピオイドと異なり操縦士も使用可
🔹施術者の育成と課題
- 現地で施術可能にするには事前のBFA研修が必要
- 一度習得すれば簡単に安全に実施可能
- 医師だけでなく衛生兵も使用可能
🔹効果と患者の反応
- 一回の施術で80%の患者に効果が見られる
- 効果は数日持続し、頻繁な通院が不要
- 中毒や増量の必要もない
- 軽度の副作用（出血・かゆみ・軽い眩暈など）はあるが、重篤な副作用はなし
🔹オピオイド削減への期待
- 慢性的な痛みの患者が、多数の薬から解放される例も多い
- BFAによって痛みを緩和し、日常機能の回復が期待される
- ただし、万能ではないため、薬や他の療法との併用が有効
🔹今後の展望
- ニムゾウ医師：「これは我々の治療ツールの一つにすぎない」
- 理学療法やオステオパシー（整骨医学）とともに、統合医療の一環として期待
以下、原文
Battlefield acupuncture? Yes, it exists, and the military is using it to fight troops’ pain
By Nicole Bauke
Feb 10, 2018
Dr. Richard Niemtzow, chief of the Air Force Acupuncture and Integrative Medicine Center, performs battlefield acupuncture on a patient. BFA can be taught and safely performed by medics throughout the military. (Airman 1st Class Aaron Stout/Air Force)
The U.S. military has added the ancient holistic therapy of acupuncture to its arsenal for fighting opioid abuse in the ranks.
The practice, which first originated in China about 8,000 years ago, provides immediate relief for acute and chronic pain, and, without the risk of addiction, can be used without any restrictions.
One of the most popular forms used in the military has been dubbed ‘battlefield acupuncture,’ or BFA, because it’s simple to administer and easily transportable, according to Dr. Richard Niemtzow, who developed BFA in 2001. With BFA, service members can continue to participate, unimpaired, in work and life.
“They don’t have to wait hours for medications to take maximal effect or endure side effects, like drowsiness or allergic reactions, of common pain medications,” said Air Force Col. Lynda Vu, who recently administered BFA while deployed in Qatar. “This allows personnel to go back to the fight with minimal impact to continuing mission operations.”
Service members who use BFA can still fly aircraft, unlike those who use opiates, according to Vu. The one challenge she faces is a lack of BFA-trained physicians on deployment.
“This requires either training prior to deployment or having a trained instructor administer the provider BFA course in the deployed location,” Vu said. But once learned, the technique is easy to use.
BFA, which involves a small needle inserted into the ear, has a “central effect” on the nervous system and the cingulate gyrus, an area of the brain that processes pain, according to Niemtzow, who is the director of the U.S. Air Force Acupuncture and Integrative Medicine Center at the Malcolm Grow Medical Clinics and Surgery Center on Joint Base Andrews, Maryland.
“The insertion of the needle into the ear seems to disrupt this process,” said Niemtzow, essentially preventing the pain from surfacing.
Most patients who seek BFA are those who have tried traditional Western treatments and have not responded well, according to Niemtzow. But with BFA, many patients can immediately begin to feel relief.
“There’s an excellent possibility that the pain will be successfully treated during the first encounter with a patient,” said Niemtzow, citing an 80 percent efficacy.
Once evaluated with a physical examination, patients can begin to receive BFA, and can decide for themselves how much treatment they need. Often, it isn’t that frequent. One dosage provides relief that lasts for several days, and patients cannot grow dependent on it or require higher doses, as with oral medication.
“A good majority of our patients come in several times and then begin to improve, and then we may not see them for months or years,” said Dr. Stephen Burns, chief of the Acupuncture and Integrative Medicine Center.
Side effects are rare, but include irritation, infection, or bleeding. However, the three doctors say they have never seen a patient develop an infection or endure significant bleeding.
“Sometimes when we treat patients they might feel a little bit of lightheadedness, or transiently feel a little relaxed or giggly,” said Burns. “But that’s a pleasant side effect.”
Niemtzow’s long-term hope is that BFA can displace opioid usage, or at least reduce it.
“You have a patient who is on, say 10, 15, 20 medications. Some of them are muscle relaxants, some are pain medications, some are sleeping agents, some are anti-anxiety agents,” said Burns. “Adding the BFA often reduces the pain and reduces the need for some of the medications.”
By removing the pain, explained Burns, patients can be on their way to solving related health issues.
“If we can reduce their pain medications, they may be able to be more and more functional during the day,” said Burns.
But it’s not a cure-all, said Niemtzow, and may not work on every patient. It can also be used in combination with oral medications, which Niemtzow said are helpful treatment options when used appropriately.
The doctors also encourage patients to explore other holistic treatment options, and to look beyond medicine and surgery. Vu recommended full spectrum acupuncture as a complementary therapy and listed physical therapy and osteopathic manipulation as other popular modalities.
“This is another tool in our toolbox,” said Niemtzow.
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