Health care providers at Scott exploring ear acupuncture Published Jan. 14, 2015 By Senior Airman Tristin English 375th Air Mobility Wing Public Affairs SCOTT AIR FORCE BASE, Ill. -- The Scott Air Force Base Mental Health Clinic acupuncture program is training one of its members to provide auricular acupuncture to patients, a form of therapy using the ear. "Auricular Acupuncture is a powerful treatment option," said Col. Tammy Lindsay, 375th Medical Group Chief of Medical Staff. "The whole body is mapped out on the ear allowing for specific protocols that can be performed for pain, anxiety, sleep, head injuries, and many others. The potential is endless." Auricular therapy is based on the concept of using pathways throughout the body that you can map through the ears. One way to administer treatment is to use dry needling, the use of either solid filiform needles or hollow-core hypodermic needles for therapy of muscle pain for half an hour or so. The provider recently trained on this form of therapy is Capt. Eva Leven, 375th Medical Group Clinical Psychology Provider. "I was interested because clinical health psychology is an area I've been involved in since residency. With chronic pain management you have the prescribing side of it and the behavioral side," she said. "There are multiple things you can do to reduce some pain. The way they explain it in the training is your brain is sort of like a constant multitasking machine. It does a lot of small tasks very efficiently, one after the other, but when it comes to things like pain and pleasure, it goes through very similar pathways even though they are just different neural structures. But, if you can target the pain and distract your body from the pain that doesn't need to be there, you can feel better. That can lead to better other physical and emotional improvements in your daily life." The training was done during a four-day pain management for auricular acupuncture in San Diego. Auricular therapy is widely used for many conditions, including addiction treatment, mood disorders, obesity, pain, and other conditions. This therapy can be used as part of physical therapy, chiropractic, and pain management treatment plans. The earliest uses of ear acupuncture dates back to ancient China.