Today's acupuncture study programs are generally three to four years in duration and consist of 2800 to 3200 hours instructional hours.
These accredited programs include not only an in-depth education in Traditional Chinese Medicine theory and practice, but also cover the basics of biological medicine as well.
Upon successful completion, graduates recognize and differentiate a patient's energetic patterns relative to the principles learned.
These patterns are then addressed with acupuncture techniques.
In many cases herbal treatment is also utilized.
Since training programs do contain course work in biological medicine most Acupuncturists see their role as collaborative with Western Medicine, not adversarial.
The goal of treatment is to provide comfort to clients with the most appropriate care.
In support of this approach, Acupuncturists see many major health-care organizations employing, or having, Oriental Medical practitioners on staff.
Many of these traditional Western medicine facilities are adding Acupuncturists, Oriental Medicine practitioners, massage therapists, physical therapists, wellness centers that include exercise classes, yoga, nutrition professionals and other holistic practitioners.
There is room in the world of medical treatment for more than just the Western Medicine view of things and more and more Western Medical facilities are recognizing this.
Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine has been in continuous practice for thousands of years.
Ancient Chinese texts describing early procedures date back before the birth of Christ.
The earliest book written on Chinese Medicine, the Nei Jing, was compiled around 305-204 B.
C.
This history provides Oriental Medicine with a deep and broad-based clinical platform to address many of today's health concerns.
With recent focus on evidence based medical treatment, Acupuncture has justly become the subject of many published clinical trials.
Many of these can be found in data bases such as PubMed and the National Library of Medicine.
The US National Institutes of Health (NIH) issued a consensus report after reviewing many of these case studies stating that "The data in support of acupuncture is as strong as those for many accepted Western Medical therapies.
" The World Health Organization (WHO) also weighed in on the efficacy of acupuncture.
Based on its review of the extensive data base of clinical trials the organization published a listing of conditions in which acupuncture has been effective.
The data is in; see what adding an Acupuncture approach to your personal health-care program can do for you.
There is nothing to lose and perhaps a lot to gain in getting another opinion from the perspective of Oriental medicine and Acupuncture.