Since I’ve been in this field, I’ve seen acupuncture become more and more mainstream and now even the military recognizes its benefits. The Star News Online recently reported that Karen Vaughn a Wilmington, Delaware, acupuncturist, volunteers her Fridays at Camp Lejeune performing free acupuncture procedures to help Marines injured in combat deal with their pain and stress. Check out the article below.

Here Now – Acupuncturist helps wounded Marines

By Si Cantwell
Si.Cantwell@StarNewsOnline.com

Karen Vaughn had done her work. Four Marines sat around a table in the barracks for the Wounded Warrior Battalion – East with needles sticking out of their ears. A fifth one browsed through Facebook at a computer workstation.

All had turned to acupuncture for relief of stress and pain.

“It helps me calm down,” said Lance Cpl. Justin Laddie, from Alabama. “I was pretty ill when I came here.”

Laddie had five needles in each ear (as I did at that point), plus four around the back of his neck, one in his forehead and one at the crown of his head.

“I’m going for that ‘Hellraiser’ look,” he joked to a colleague, referring to a horror-movie character.

The Wounded Warrior Battalion was created in 2005 to support injured Marines. They get the fellowship of living and working together, rather than the discouraging effort of staying with uninjured troops.

Every Friday morning, Vaughn drives from Wilmington to Camp Lejeune to treat the wounded warriors.

She starts by leading them through a series of grace taiji exercises out in the yard. Then, in the recreation room of the Wounded Warrior barracks, she performs the five-needle protocol, five needles in each ear. She augments those treatments with other needles to relieve headaches and stress.

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