Battlefield Auricular Acupuncture (BFA)
BFA was created by Dr Richard Neimtzow of the United States Air Force in 2001. It is a specialist style of acupuncture using points on the ears and which was devised to help members of the military forces who were injured in action or recovering from surgery and trauma.
The technique is now available to the general public and can be used to help many types of pain.
BFA was developed for it’s pain relieving qualities and can enable some patients to reduce or even stop the need for them to take pain killing and anti-inflammatory medication. Response to BFA does vary from one person to another. Some will have immediate and complete loss of pain, others will experience varying levels of reduction of pain and some will not get any benefit at all. I use BFA in combination with traditional acupuncture, rather than as a stand alone approach.
Response to BFA can take time and even if there is little or no immediate relief, trials have shown that improvements can come with later sessions and as a result it is worth pursuing this approach. Four to eight sessions are recommended to see if you can get benefit.
The BFA protocol involves carefully inserting sterile gold plated stainless steel needles into special acupuncture points in the ears. Between one and ten needles can be used, the exact number depending on how you respond.
The needles are left in place for between three to ten days after which you come back for another treatment session. Once your reactivity is reassessed, new needles are inserted.
When you are at home, you can stimulate the needles as often as necessary to keep your pain levels under control.
The duration of improvement using BFA can vary from a complete cure to partial lasting improvement, but for some patients, the improvement is not sustained for the long term. Where this is not the case, the patient can return for an occasional treatment to help keep their pain under some degree of control.