Citation

Highfield ES, Lama P, Grodin MA, Kaptchuk TJ, Crosby SS. J. Immigr. Minor. Health 2011; 14(3): 433-440.

Affiliation

Department of Family Medicine, Boston University School of Medicine, Boston, MA, 02118, USA, Ellen.highfield@bmc.org.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2011, Holtzbrinck Springer Nature Publishing Group)

DOI

10.1007/s10903-011-9538-6

PMID

22005843

Abstract

Refugees with trauma histories are a difficult medical population to treat. Acupuncture care has gained acceptance in many mainstream hospitals in the United States, but research on acupuncture and refugee populations is limited. Herein, we report our experiences with 50 refugees (total acupuncture treatments = 425) at a major tertiary teaching hospital. Patients often reported extreme trauma including physical torture, rape and witnessing the same in family members. Patients represented 13 different countries, with about half the patients being Somali. The primary complaint of all patients was pain (100%). Using the Wong-Baker Faces Pain scale, 56% patients reported pain decreases. Patient acceptance of acupuncture was high. We provide three case histories as illustrative examples. Further research is warranted.

Language: en