What’s a top health complaint by service members and their beneficiaries? Pain. Pain has a huge impact on performance and can lead to loss of workdays, function, and quality of life. Pain affects not only the individual experiencing it, but also his or her family. In August 2012 the Navy Comprehensive Pain Management Program (NCPMP) had a brainstorming meeting to discuss the best ways to treat pain and improve access to various pain treatments for Sailors, Marines, and their beneficiaries. The results?

• Both Warfighters and beneficiaries will have access to pain treatments.
• The Navy will use alternative methods to treat pain, including non-medication treatments.
• Individuals will see multiple healthcare providers as needed to treat pain effectively.
• The focus will be to improve quality of life and reduce pain as much as possible.

For more information, read "Chronic Pain Management to Benefit the Beneficiary" as well as NCPMP's 2011 summary presentation.

And stay tuned for more—HPRC will be adding a new website section on pain management.

Fort Drum recently opened a “Mountain Functional Fitness Facility.” In keeping with the goal of overall combat fitness, the facility’s purpose is to help soldiers become strong and agile for combat while deployed in both cold conditions and rough terrain such as rugged mountainous environments.

“Functional fitness” focuses on developing specific muscle movements and overall athleticism rather than building up specific muscles. This new center features state-of-the-art equipment and the mission of helping soldiers become conditioned to operate in realistic situations where both strength and agility training are mission critical. Check out this report in Business Insider for additional photos.

In October 2012, students at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences participated in Operation Bushmaster at Fort Indiantown Gap, PA. The exercise involved a simulated combat environment to test the limits of their physical fitness as well as mental resilience. Military medical students were tasked with managing patient flow in an operational environment, such as tactical relocation over uneven terrain and dealing with changes in environmental conditions.

From a human performance optimization (HPO) standpoint, take-home points for the practical exercise included the importance of being physically fit, especially following guidelines for the prevention of back injuries, and implementing mental strategies for coping in high stress situations.

Understanding how stress affects you both mentally and physically in high-stress situations is important for optimal performance—which is why training under stress is a central part of combat preparation. Knowing what your reactions are, when to pause and take a deep breath, how to use positive self-talk, when to recalibrate one’s physical responses, and how to recharge (sleep and proper nutrition) after a stressful event are key for being at your peak mental performance. Getting support from comrades and using appropriate humor also can help relieve stress.

Army Physical Readiness Training, TC 3-22.20, is available in an app for your iPhone. The app includes exercise videos and workouts to help you succeed in increasing your cardiovascular fitness, muscular strength and endurance, and mobility—all of which are required to pass the Army Physical Fitness Test.

This past July, the Military Health System focused on promoting Total Force Fitness, giving priority to seven top areas: tobacco-free living, drug-abuse prevention, healthy eating, active living, injury-free and violence-free living, reproductive and sexual health, and mental and emotional well-being. They suggest managing your own health and wellness by making healthy choices between doctor’s visits. For inspirations and ideas that can help, check out HPRC’s ways to:

• make healthy food decisions for yourself, and your family;
• become tobacco-free and/or reducing substance use;
• be active for yourself, your family; and
• enhance your mental and emotional health.

Operation Supplement Safety (OPSS) has now been launched to answer many of your questions about Dietary Supplements. Visit the OPSS section of HPRC’s website now to learn more!

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is investigating five deaths and a non-fatal heart attack that may be linked to Monster Energy drinks. The FDA has pointed out that while the investigation is going on, it does not mean that Monster Energy drinks caused these adverse events, which were reported to the FDA over a span of eight years. Other adverse event reports have been associated with consuming the energy drinks. Read the New York Times article here, as well as this one from NBC News.

Operation Supplement Safety (OPSS) has now been launched to answer many of your questions about Dietary Supplements. Visit the OPSS section of HPRC’s website now to learn more!

Talking to yourself (called “self-talk”) is a commonly used sports practice that can boost performance by training you to pay attention to the details of an activity or encourage yourself to keep going.

There are two types of self-talk that can help boost performance: instructional and motivational. Visit HPRC’s Performance Strategies on optimizing self-talk to learn more about these types and how they can benefit your performance.

Before the end of October of 2012, the Army will issue to all soldiers fire-resistant ACUs that have been factory treated with an EPA-approved insect repellent called permethrin. This method may be a cleaner and safer way of repelling insects compared to DEET, another long-lasting insect repellent. The Army has been using permethrin for nearly 20 years in the form of liquid or spray, and by treating ACUs, soldiers will experience better, longer-lasting protection against ticks, fleas, mosquitos, and other insects that carry diseases such as malaria, West Nile virus, and Lyme. Other advantages include not having to worry about remembering to apply insect repellant and whether you’re applying it correctly. Uniforms treated with permethrin have been used by the Marine Corps since 2007 and have been used in some Iraq and Afghanistan operations but until now have not been available to all soldiers. The new ACUs will be good for about 50 launderings, but it is important to note that the uniforms should be washed separately from other clothing. There will be a permethrin-free ACU available for those with medical conditions, including pregnant women, who should not wear the treated uniforms. For more information check out these FAQs or contact the Armed Forces Pest Management Board.

When your body simply refuses to perform a well-learned skill, it’s called “choking.” For Warfighters, the results could be disastrous. Recent research focused on the theory that it involves a disconnection—or loss of focus—between the muscles and the part of the brain responsible for motor skills (for most people, the right side of the brain).

The study tested a small group of athletes to see if better physical performance would result from stimulating the right brain. They found that those who did so—by squeezing a ball with the left hand to stimulate the right brain before a high-pressure situation—performed better than those who squeezed a ball with the right hand or not at all and almost as well as in a low-pressure situation. Although more work is needed to verify the concept, it is something you can try on your own.