Should Chiropractors & Physiotherapists be able to preform 'Acupuncture'?

AcuGuru

I dont think that anyone should perform acupuncture until they know the proper anatomy, point location and chinese medicine diagnosis.

I have had people come to the clinic where I practice and say they have had acupuncture and it didn't work. Most of the time I hear this it was done by someone who didn't have a chinese medicine education, they didn't have the means to diagnose !

I think anyone can preform acupuncture as long as they have had the proper training. Meaning they have met the same educational requirements as someone who has the registered title of Acupuncturist. This goes for physio's, chiro's, MD's, etc. As long as they have taking the extra time to study and write the same lisencing exams as every other Acupuncturist then they should be aloud to do this. Otherwise if they are using needle therapy of some sort then it is just that, needle therapy- not acupuncture!
An acupuncturist is a trade protected name, which offers the public confidence that the person preforming acupuncture has had a minimum amount of proper training, not just some weekend workshop.

Trevor

The question is, who are “us”.
Our practice act describes “us” as licensed acupuncturists and then goes on to define what acupuncture is in a very loose and general manner. Historically, when US State Associations cobble together practice acts, they are left intentionally vague. The thinking is that the less specific the description is, the broader the coverage of rights it implies. Also, it is thought that there is less controversy when the proposed bill goes before the legislature if it is kept simple and fairly vague.
Another reason for keeping things vague is to be as inclusive as possible to the myriad of practitioners and their schools/styles, who are also “us”.
In the US, we are really licensed to practice a medical modality, not a system of medicine.
The vagueness of our practice act and the fact that we are licensed to practice a modality, opens the door for other professions to adopt that modality and the title “acupuncturist”, thereby becoming more of “us”.
Professional practitioners of conventional medicine, whatever their level of practice, share a common language, standardized diagnostic criterion and treatment protocols.
Until “we” develop (or adopt the current Chinese), standardized language, diagnosis and treatment protocols, and apply them to our practice act, we will continue to be practicing a modality as “lay acupuncturists”.
It is a choice we, as LAcs and as an association, must make sooner or later. We can either; clearly define ourselves as practicing a professional system of medicine, and limit the practice of that medicine to qualifying professionals. Or we can leave things as they are, continue to practice a modality of medicine and welcome any and all who want to share in the practice of that modality regardless of their training.
Both choices will have repercussions. If there is a third alternative I would love to here it.

Robert Kienitz, D.Ac.
ww[b]w.acupuncture-wilmington.com

Kimtaoyin
I would just like to say that I agree with comment made on 24/06/08 by Atisha. I am just coming to the end of my 3 year BSc Degree Course on Oriental Medicine with my exams being at end of July. Once I pass this will give me the qualification to state that I am an Acupuncturist (as well as herbs). It has involved a lot of studying, so unless everyone who chooses to call themselves Acupuncturists have been through the same level of studying and examination how can they say they know what they are doing.

On this topic, here is a Letter to the Editor I had in my local paper this past week . . .

Misrepresenting Acupuncture.

Dr Colohan’s dedicated commitment in the service of chronic pain sufferers in Prince Edward Island is to be applauded. But his recent mis-characterisation of acupuncture cannot go uncorrected by me or the Association I represent. In his June 23 commentary, Dr. Colohan lumped acupuncture in a catchall bucket with cortisone injections, ultrasound, nerve blocks and laser therapy as ‘physical therapy’. This reflects a widespread untruth and a therapeutic ghetto into which many healthcare professionals seem hell bent on placing acupuncture. This is because most acupuncture in PEI is delivered by physiotherapists and chiropractors who are only trained to treat simple musculoskeletal complaints.

If you have received acupuncture from the very few of us in the Province who are fully trained in Classical Acupuncture, you already appreciate the full breadth and depth of acupuncture’s usefulness. Acupuncture is not mere ‘physical therapy’ on par with nerve blocks and ultrasound. It is a highly sophisticated broad spectrum medical art. For example, I routinely and successfully treat patients for a whole host of health problems related to hormonal regulation, organ function, mental/emotional problems and compromised immune function. Acupuncture, when provided by a fully trained professional, is about MUCH more than neck pain and back pain.

While modern medicine has only recently realised that most of your body systems are interconnected (the basis for the new field of psychoneuroimmunology), Chinese Medicine has recognised this for centuries. Professionally administered Classical Acupuncture is the therapy par excellence for integrating the full web of physiological and anatomical interrelationships that, despite all the talk of holistic health care, are still treated separately. If and when this is ever fully appreciated and brought from the margins and back alleys of medicine into the mainstream, medical care would undergo a dramatic change for the better.

Most Italian food in PEI is served up in the form of pizza and spaghetti. That does NOT mean Italian food is just pizza and spaghetti. Anyone who has ever dined at a gourmet Italian restaurant knows it is MUCH more than that. Most acupuncture in PEI is served up as a ‘pain management’ technique for neck pain and back pain. Anyone who has ever received treatment from a professional classically trained acupuncturist knows it is so much more than that.

Daniel Schulman.
Chairperson.
Association of Registered Acupuncturists of Prince Edward Island

Firstly, I hope you mean 'perform' and not 'preform'?!

Secondly, the big picture, its too late to ask that question. The horse is out of the barn. And we cannot put it back in. For example, where I live, I estimate there are 85 people doing 'acupuncture', of which only three are trained and certified to a licensure equivalent level. The other 82 people have somewhere between 2 weeks and 3 months of training! Can you IMAGINE the three of us trying to sit down with the Minister of Health and the other 83??? Hmmmmmmm.

What WE (and by 'we', I mean classically trained practitioners who employ the full meridian and oriental medical model in how we assess and treat our patients, have to do, is first of all, stop being such a pathetically fragmented and inbickering profession and secondly, work hard to educate (TV ads, radio ads, paper ads, articles, etc) everyone on how we stand out, how we are different, i.e. the difference between pizza and italian food.

Daniel Schulman
Charlottetown, PEI, Canada