Do Doctors & Chiropractors Practice Acupuncture?

You may have come across health care practitioners who perform treatments they call "acupuncture", but who do not have the training nor qualifications of Licensed Acupuncturists.

Sometimes called ‘medical acupuncturists or chiropractors administering acupuncture’, these practitioners are often "certified" after only 100 - 220 hours or less of study, most of which are home study courses. In contrast, Licensed Acupuncturists qualification includes over 3,000 hours of structured study over 3 or more years, the equivalent of a Masters degree.

Patients should be aware of the potential dangers of receiving treatment from healthcare professional’s who are not licensed acupuncturists practitioners. As a Licensed Acupuncturist, I am most concerned about the negative perception of acupuncture and lost confidence of patients who have had a bad experience from 'medical acupuncture' or chiropractors saying they are administering acupuncture when in fact, they are practicing something totally different. Those patients often claim "acupuncture" was painful and had little healing effect. This is unfortunate because, in fact, well-executed acupuncture treatments can have a dramatic positive impact on health.

Some doctors or chiropractors have undergone the full training regiment and truly administer acupuncture. My advise is for patients to know the training of their practitioner and opt for those who will deliver the full benefit of this 2000 year old medicine.

Acupuncture Useful for Side Effects of Cancer Treatments

I have successfully used acupuncture to alleviate the side effects of chemotherapy and other allopathic treatments. I've noticed news articles confirming my clinical experience. One such report appeared in the April 17th issue of Head and Neck describes a randomized controlled trial conducted by The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center to determine if radiation-induced xerostomia (dry mouth) secondary to radiation for cancer in the head and neck region can be reversed using acupuncture. "This pilot study demonstrates that acupuncture can improve the subjective symptoms of dry mouth in patients with radiation-induced xerostomia as early as two weeks after starting treatment, and the benefits can remain at least one month after treatment ends," the authors concluded. "Studies to investigate both prevention and treatment of acupuncture for radiation-induced xerostomia as well as other side effects of cancer treatment are greatly needed."

Other allopathic treatment-induced side effects that respond well to acupuncture, in my experience, are nausea, itching, anxiety, sleeplessness, and body pain. Often patients welcome non-pharmaceutical options in their health care regiment.