The practice of Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine (AOM) has a history reaching back to nearly 4000 years in written form, yet remains a young modality with barely 40 years as a licensed profession in the United States. As a new offering to many patients, the opportunity for confusion is great, as is the need for patient education.
In the past 20 years, AOM has made steady progress into the mainstream medical marketplace to take position as a versatile and powerful medicine, with the number of practitioners growing yearly. The prestigious Cleveland Clinic has started offering acupuncture and herbal medicine for its patients, and barely a week goes by without acupuncture appearing in the media whether it is Dr. Oz, Dr. Weil, or a celebrity or athlete praising the benefits of acupuncture. As part of the Affordable Care Act, acupuncturists, naturopaths, and chiropractors are recognized as primary care providers in the non-discrimination clause that now applies to licensed alternative practitioners. With increased access it is important for patients to know what exactly is in the scope of AOM so that they can make educated choices. It is especially important that patients understand that receiving acupuncture from a licensed acupuncturist or in the case of Nevada, an Oriental Medicine Doctor is the best and safest route.
Recently some blurring of professional boundaries in acupuncture has caused many in the AOM profession concern – concern that should be shared by the public, and that is inadequately trained practitioners providing a form of acupuncture called dry needling. It is called “dry” needling as opposed to “wet” meaning that the needles are not used hypodermically to inject fluids or draw blood. In most cases, they are using the same super-thin, solid, filiform needles used in any acupuncture office, though injection needles are sometimes used. The Federation of State Board of Physical Therapists claim that because they are not using meridians, Oriental Medicine Theory, that DN is not acupuncture, but other state boards have concluded that it is. Physical therapists may add DN to their offerings with just 27 hours of training, and are encouraged to begin needling “immediately upon returning to the clinic Monday morning” according to Kinetacore, a DN training provider. As a trained Oriental Medicine Doctor, I would never presume I could learn physical therapy in a weekend course or two! While Nevada law is clear in this state that chiropractors cannot perform acupuncture, it is ambiguous for physical therapists. Patients need to be smart shoppers when making decisions regarding health care.
Physicians and Osteopaths may also receive certification and training in what is called medical acupuncture. Most certification programs are 300 hours. It is worthwhile to research your MD or DO to verify current certification, if acupuncture is part of their treatment plan for you. Recently at an international pain conference, Prof. Rollin Gallagher, from the University of Pennsylvania, and editor of the academic journal Pain Medicine recommended that physicians learn acupuncture as a “basic tool” to reduce opioid use. Some patients under my own care have indeed been able to reduce reliance on prescribed pain killers, but is 300 hours of additional training comparable to four years or 3000 hours of Oriental Medicine school, particularly when the theory and diagnosis behind acupuncture guides the treatment principles? Why are other medical professionals adding acupuncture to their scope of practice? Because it works.
Merely using acupuncture needles is not to practice Oriental Medicine. Treatment guided by a thorough understanding of Oriental Medical theory and diagnosis will yield the most powerful results for patients suffering stagnation and disharmony. AOM treats a wide range of other issues beyond the muscuo-skeletal issues such as pain from traumatic injury – from allergies, to asthma, insomnia, TMJ, migraines and more – too many to list in this short article. Your OMD will take a comprehensive medical history and design a personalized treatment plan for you. Placing needles into painful areas as taught in the DN or “medical acupuncture” may result in alleviation of pain, but it is treating the symptom only. Nothing wrong with that, results are results and treatments should be palliative, but in Oriental Medicine, the goal is always to treat the whole patient by getting to the root, not just the symptom, or branch. Furthermore, methods acupuncturists use in clinic are not limited to needles, but other modalities such as moxibustion, cupping, gua sha, bodywork therapy, qi gong and perhaps most powerfully – herbal medicine.
Most states require practitioners of acupuncture and Oriental Medicine to graduate from an OM or Traditional Chinese Medicine University. They will have completed a rigorous 4-year post-graduate course of study that includes the full range of AOM theory and diagnosis, point location, Chinese herbology, and western medicine subjects such as nutrition, biochemistry, anatomy, physiology, western clinical medicine, and supervised clinical experience as an intern treating the public in the school clinic and other partner locations. It isn’t like medical school, it is medical school, with a different curriculum. Passing four National Board Exams is required for licensing by most states. These rigorous exams strongly emphasize patient safety in each of the four examination areas. Some states, like California and Nevada, have their own Board examination, though Nevada also requires candidates pass the National Board exams. As Oriental Medicine Doctors we are trained professionals with tools and theory from ancient traditions, but our education emphasizes modern clinical practice. We deserve to have our professional boundaries respected so that patients can best benefit from all that Oriental Medicine has to offer.