How easy is it to become an acupuncturist?
August 30th, 2007There is an interesting discussion going on at the emptyflower message board. It starts off as a question about rib displacement and moves into more of a discussion between some acupuncturists and some western medical professionals (one of whom is a neurosurgeon).
One of the points raised is that western medical professionals can take a weekend course and become licenced to offer acupuncture as an adjunct to their practice. Often this is “acupuncture for pain relief” and relies on using cookie-cutter like recipes of points for specific complaints (often back or neck ache). Is this a good idea? After all, acupuncturist spend many years learning oriental medicine, its theory and practice and how to diagnose and treat according to the Zhang Fu, 8 Principles, Five Elements etc etc. Should acupuncturists be able to take a weekend course in, I don’t know, open heart surgery?
I’m a bit on the fence on this issue – I know that donning my acupuncture hat, this approach is the wrong way to go. Offering topical pain relief doesn’t get to the root of the problem and applying acupuncture outside of its own theoretical and diagnostic framework is a bit like trying to converse in a foreign language when all you have are a few phrases like “Which way to the Eiffel Tower?” and “Can I have a baguette with cheese please?”. On the other hand, it is foolish to think that western docs don’t try to get to the root of a problem, and if what they diagnose in western terms can be helped by a little localised pain relief from acupuncture, then why not?
