Patients donate what they can afford for a 25-minute session.

If you haven’t heard of it, join the club. But in the world of acupuncture, it is recognized, especially for patients recovering from addiction or trauma. Katie Clifton, an acupuncturist in Roanoke, Virginia, truly introduced me to this concept.

Basically, a licensed acupuncturist (or certified technician) inserts five very fine (disposable) needles into different parts of the outer ear. The patient will sit quietly for about 25 minutes and then the needle will be removed. that’s it.

On Friday evening, I had five needles inserted into each ear. Other than a momentary small sting, this process is painless. And in the best-case scenario, 5NP reduces cravings for alcohol, tobacco, opioids, or other substances. It is generally thought to reduce anxiety and insomnia.

Clifton, 50, provides donation-based services through her nonprofit Wellness Wagon, a former school bus painted Fuchsia with 208,000 miles on the clock. Her husband, Eric Shiraly, a contractor, designed the interior into a cozy, wheel-bodied interior with four recliners, a footstool, soft music, and a deep blue ceiling studded with decorative stars. I changed to an acupuncture clinic.

Previously, Clifton owned Queen Pin Acupuncture (708 Fifth St. SW), and Bass was part of that business. She sold her practice in January, kept her bus, and incorporated as a nonprofit acupuncture office on wheels.

“As far as we know, we are the only mobile acupuncture clinic in America,” said Mike Holcomb, 35, an acupuncturist who manages the bus. (He is the engineer who hurt my ear.)

The Wellness Wagon will make regular stops on Fifth Avenue outside the former Queenpin offices in Roanoke on Fridays from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m. Twice a month on rescue missions in southeast Roanoke. and monthly at New Castle Christian Church in Craig County. Clifton said they will soon be offering the five-stitch protocol for monthly visits to the Town of Bedford.

In addition to voluntary donations from patients, the buses are funded by grants. For these people, Wellness Wagon partners with organizations such as Child Health Investment Partnership, Bradley Free Clinic, Feeding Southwest Virginia, and the City of Roanoke Health Department.

Clifton also provides services for employers. For $200 an hour, they deliver wellness wagons to businesses and treat workers on-site. You may also see buses at local health and wellness events.

The history of the five-needle protocol dates back to 1970. At the time, medical practitioners at a New York hospital discovered that it helped heroin addicts overcome withdrawal symptoms.

You can now read more about this treatment on the websites of top hospitals in the United States, including the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota and the Cleveland Clinic in Ohio.

A paper from the National Library of Medicine (a division of the National Institutes of Health) explains:

“The National Acupuncture and Detoxification Association (NADA) Protocol is a simple, standardized auricular therapy that has the potential to provide significant public health relief for the problems currently facing our world. This includes, but is not limited to, addictions such as the opioid epidemic, but also mental health, trauma, PTSD, chronic stress, and symptoms associated with these conditions. ”

Clifton explained the benefits:

For people recovering from addiction, she says, withdrawal symptoms are a signal that the body is under stress. For example, people who are addicted to alcohol train their bodies to consume the drug ethanol on a regular basis. Disrupting the dosing schedule activates the body’s emergency fight-or-flight response system, causing levels of stress hormones such as cortisol and adrenaline to spike.

The five-needle protocol “reduces the body’s stress response,” Clifton says. Somehow, it interrupts the fight-or-flight feedback loop and reduces the cravings caused by the lack of the drug. This helps people in recovery stay drug-free.

Exactly how that works is “all the question,” Clifton added. However, there are many nerves running through the outer ear. The five-needle protocol stimulates the sympathetic nervous system, she said.

“It allows the body to do its own healing, its own processing,” said Holcomb, 35. “Some people get on the bus and say, ‘Acupuncture isn’t really for me.’ ” he said. Then they will figure it out and fall asleep within 10-15 minutes. ”

Nathan Burton hopped on the wellness wagon Friday night to ease his anxiety. This was his third visit to Bass. The 26-year-old grew up in Vermont, but these days calls Taos, New Mexico his home. He has been confined in Roanoke since September.

Last year, Burton decided to quit his job as a photojournalist for the award-winning weekly magazine Taos News, return to Vermont, and go on a motorcycle trip with his father. It was a bucket list adventure they had been planning for years.

However, while passing through Floyd County in September, his father, William Burton, crashed into a guardrail on Route 221, sustaining serious injuries including a fractured pelvis, multiple spinal fractures, and a brain bleed from a head injury. He was airlifted to Carilion Roanoke Memorial Hospital.

Old man Barton is still rehabbing here in Roanoke, so Nathan is here too. (So ​​is William Burton’s wife, Debra.)

Nathan works with his father every day, trying to get him well enough to leave Roanoke. Nathan said this takes about 60 hours each week. No wonder he’s anxious.

Burton said Wellness Wagon allows patients to donate what they can afford, so “there’s only one way to do this.” “do not have [health-insurance]. This is a holistic therapy that helps my mental health. ”

There is a GoFundMe page for William Burton, but Nathan didn’t mention it during the chat. I found this website by myself. Oh my god, this is worth a look.

After sitting in the wellness wagon with a needle in my ear for the spell, the younger Burton said: It’s a kind of liberation. ”

It’s hard to explain, but I too have felt the benefits of the 5-needle protocol.

I wouldn’t call it profound or earth-shaking. However, I definitely felt more relaxed and focused when I got off the Wellness Wagon than when I got on it. I slept really well on Friday night. The pain in my left hip (needs a new one) has also decreased a bit.

After hearing my explanation, my wife, Donna, wants to try acupuncture.

Your mileage may vary. But the 5-needle protocol is worth a try.