For Safety and Maximum Effectiveness See a Licensed Acupuncturist

In order to be preformed safely an effectively, acupuncture must be preformed by a qualified practitioner with adequate training in Chinese medicine. Unfortunately MD's and chiropractors have been allowed to add acupuncture as a modality in their practices after taking only a few weekend seminars in it, totally 100-300 hours. Considering that Licensed Acupuncturist now must complete 3000-4000 hours of training in order to become licensed, it is inconceivable that states would consider 100-300 adequate training for practicing on patients. Those that are poorly trained make mistakes ranging from ineffective treatment to injuries to patients.

A study by the Institute of Community Medicine, University of Tromso, Norway about acupuncture safety concludes:

"Most adverse effects of acupuncture seem to rely on insufficient basic medical knowledge, low hygienic standard, and inadequate acupuncture education. The study confirms the adverse effects of acupuncture under certain circumstances. Serious adverse effects, however, are few, and acupuncture can generally be considered as a safe treatment."

PMID: 9395661 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

Here's an document from the FAQs page of my website discussing the difference in training of acupuncturists and MD's & Chiropractor's with the 100-300 hour medical acupuncture certificate:

Licensed vs Certified Acupuncturists

The Medical Acupuncture Facts website discusses the issue of MD's and chiropractors with 100-300 hours training preforming acupuncture, and the associated problems. Here's an article from the site discussing this issue. KB


Studies Confirm Acupuncture is Unsafe When Practiced By Non-Licensed Acupuncturists