If you want Acupuncture, its Simple-Go to a Licensed Acupuncturist!

I began my graduate training in Chinese Medicine and Acupuncture 20 years ago.  I have been a Licensed Acupuncturist for 16 years.  It took me 4 years of undergraduate training, where I majored in pre-med with the intention of going to traditional medical school.  I took two more years to really focus on pre-med classes and then when I got to the application period and taking the MCAT’s I started reading too many books.  These books told me that Western Medicine didn’t get to the root of illness and rather focused on the symptoms.  It was not what I believed in.  I was always a truth seeker, someone who wanted to find the root of a problem and therefore I found myself wanting to study something deeper.  I found Chinese Medicine and Acupuncture and was fascinated by how well-rounded and in depth in thought it was.  We could address everything and anything a western doctor could but we had natural remedies, and remedies that were used for thousands of years.  It was fascinating to find a medicine where science and spirituality were combined.  The richness of Chinese Medicine combined with the diagnostics of western medicine.  After 4 years of Chinese Medicine school I graduated becoming a board certified and licensed Acupuncturist in the state I resided.  I had over 3000 clinical hours and 4 years of school dedicated to learning ONLY Chinese Medicine and Acupuncture.  In 2007, Acupuncture was still in its infancy.  It was only starting to be recognized by the World Health Organization and the National Institute for Health.  I was having to convince people of its efficacy.  Not many people had heard about Acupuncture, so it was a bit tough being a pioneer in the field.  Sixteen years later, its now evidence based practice and EVERYONE wants a piece of it.  Unfortunately this has led to lobbying which allows almost any type of medical professional to stick people with needles, an art and a science which took me years of perfecting.  They have now allowed medical doctors, nurse practitioners, physical therapists, chiropractors, dentists and even some PhD’s to practice acupuncture.

What is this Doing to Acupuncture?

For one, its a disservice to the profession because Acupuncturists who go through the entire 4 year training of grueling hours and a lot of studying are being compared to others in the industry who either have no training or who have very little training.  Tennessee has not regulated Acupuncture in the state.  It is one of the last states to regulate acupuncture.  Other states have allowed VERY LITTLE requirements for chiropractors and physical therapists to practice acupuncture.  Most of them have a weekend course which is about 25 hours of Acupuncture training.  So my question for the patient is….Do you want an Acupuncturist to have 3000 clinical hours and 4 full years of medical school training to do your acupuncture or would you like your Chiropractor to call themselves an acupunturist who has very little training?  Its doing a disservice to not only the Acupuncture profession but its doing a disservice to the patient because there is no other professional but an Acupuncturist who can perform acupuncture like an Acupuncturist.  They simply do not have the technique or the training.  Often times when they do what is called ‘dry needling’ it is just bad acupuncture.  I’ve experienced dry needling and it HURTS!  They were trained in dry needling to take the needle and to inject it all the way down to the bone.  This is the complete opposite of what we were taught in Acupuncture school.  The needle is only supposed to barely knick the nerve, which is not anywhere near the bone.  Going to the bone causes extreme pain, and goes beyond the nerve, which is not what acupuncture is supposed to do.  Also, with dry needling the needle goes in and then out.  With correct acupuncture, each needle is placed based on a sequence determined by the acupuncturist for the appropriate treatment.  The needles are supposed to stay in the body for 20-25 minutes to rebalance the system.  The needles open an energetic highway that communicates to one another.  One area of pain, is like having a log jam in a river.  When one needle is placed, it releases that log jam and one acupuncture point communicates to the others through the nervous system as one needles impulse propagates to the next.  Keeping all of the needles in for the allotted time is crucial for the body’s healing ability.

In my opinion, it is not only bad practice but it is dangerous to allow anyone other than an Acupuncturist to perform acupuncture.  I have heard countless stories of physical therapists and chiropractors puncturing a patient’s lung with an acupuncture needle.  Not only do Acupuncturists learn point location but we learn depth of insertion and the appropriate way to insert the needle based on the organs or tissues that are under the acupuncture point.  There is no way another practitioner could learn that in a 25 hour weekend course.  Its very in depth and it takes a lot of time and testing to do proper needle insertion.  It is cases like this with an olympic athlete whose lung was punctured that make me cringe and another who was on his death bed from yet another lung puncture from an unqualified person doing acupuncture.  As an Acupuncturist, I am not performing Chiropractic adjustments or doing physical therapy or doing surgery, so why are they allowed to do Acupuncture?  We still need a lot of regulations set in place.  Please make sure if you are seeking Acupuncture, you find a Licensed and qualified Acupuncturist.  If you are in a state like Tennessee, where Acupuncture is still not regulated or licensed please make sure your Acupuncturist has a valid license in another state.

Feel free to call us with any questions about Acupuncture.  We are happy to help!