When you pull a muscle moving hay bales outside Mills, or wake up with a migraine that won’t quit no matter how much coffee or ibuprofen you’ve tried, you want relief that actually works. Something that doesn’t leave you groggy, doesn’t require a prescription, and doesn’t ask you to wait three weeks for a specialist in Denver. That’s one reason Martens Chiropractic offers Battlefield Acupuncture at our Casper clinic. The technique was built for exactly this kind of problem: pain that needs to go away quickly, using a method with real clinical research behind it and no pharmaceutical side effects to manage afterward.
Where Battlefield Acupuncture Actually Came From
Battlefield Acupuncture, or BFA, isn’t a marketing term. It was developed in the early 2000s by Colonel Richard Niemtzow, a retired Air Force physician who wanted a way to treat injured service members without pulling them off duty or putting them on opioids. The U.S. military adopted it for use on active-duty troops, and the Department of Veterans Affairs has since rolled it out broadly enough that it now appears in VA clinics across the country, including the ones many Wyoming veterans travel to.
The protocol targets five specific points on the outer ear: cingulate gyrus, thalamus, omega 2, point zero, and shen men. Small semi-permanent gold-plated needles, called ASP needles, go into each point in sequence. They’re barely larger than a grain of rice and stay in the ear for several days, continuing to work long after you’ve left the clinic.
Why the Ear?
The outer ear is densely connected to the central nervous system, which is why stimulating specific points there can change how your brain processes pain signals coming from elsewhere in the body. When the five BFA points are activated, your system tends to release serotonin, dopamine, melatonin, and its own endogenous opioids. That neurochemical cascade is what’s doing the real work, and it also explains why many patients notice better sleep and improved mood alongside the pain relief.
What the Research Shows
A 2021 study published in Pain Medicine tracked outcomes at VA battlefield acupuncture clinics and found that more than 75 percent of patients reported an immediate decrease in pain intensity after a single session. A separate VA-led study put that number at 82 percent, with benefits showing up in both individual and group treatment settings. Those are strong numbers for any pain intervention, especially one that takes roughly ten minutes to administer and leaves no medication in your system.
You can read the VA’s own summary of its findings at research.va.gov if you want to look at the data directly before booking.
Who Tends to Benefit Most
Casper residents who come to our clinic for BFA usually fall into a few recognizable groups:
- People with chronic back, neck, or shoulder pain who want to reduce reliance on NSAIDs or muscle relaxers
- Migraine and tension headache sufferers, particularly those whose attacks haven’t responded to standard medication
- Veterans already familiar with the protocol through VA care who want continuity closer to home
- Oilfield workers, ranchers, and first responders dealing with acute musculoskeletal injuries
- Post-surgical patients who need non-pharmacological pain management during rehab
The treatment works on its own, and it pairs well with chiropractic adjustments, dry needling, and trigger point acupuncture. Plenty of our patients get a BFA session during the same visit as their spinal adjustment, so they leave the office with layered relief rather than one isolated treatment.
What a Session at Our Casper Clinic Looks Like
You’ll sit in a comfortable chair. Dr. Martens will clean the area of your ear with alcohol and insert the first needle. You’ll then be asked to walk a few steps or move the part of your body that hurts, because the protocol uses your real-time pain response to decide whether to place the next point. Most patients notice a shift within minutes. The full five-point placement typically takes ten to fifteen minutes per ear.
The needles stay in until they naturally work themselves out, usually within three to seven days. You can shower, sleep, work, and exercise with them in place. If one becomes uncomfortable, you pull it out yourself. There’s no downtime, no grogginess, nothing to schedule around.
What Battlefield Acupuncture Doesn’t Do
BFA is excellent for pain relief, but it isn’t a fix for structural problems. If you have a herniated disc, a pinched nerve, or a joint that keeps slipping out of alignment, the acupuncture will make you feel better while the underlying issue still needs attention. That’s the reason we typically combine BFA with chiropractic care and targeted soft tissue work at Martens Chiropractic. You get relief while we address the cause, not just the sensation.
The side effect profile is very low. Occasional mild soreness at the needle site is the most common complaint. Serious adverse events are rare, and because no drugs are involved, there’s no interaction risk with medications you may already be taking.
Scheduling Battlefield Acupuncture at Martens Chiropractic
Casper has a meaningful veteran population and a working community that can’t afford slow recoveries. Battlefield Acupuncture fits both realities. It’s evidence-based, portable, and has a track record in some of the most demanding clinical environments in the country. Whether you’ve tried BFA through the VA and want to continue that care locally, or you’ve never heard of it before today and want to see if it can help your migraines or your lower back, we’ll walk you through the process on your first visit.
Call Martens Chiropractic in Casper to book a consultation, or schedule online. If you’re new to the clinic, ask about combining BFA with an initial chiropractic evaluation so we can build a plan that treats the pain and whatever is driving it.