Doctors, excuse me, CHIROPRACTORS, using "Biomedical Acupuncture" as a Loophole for Practice

And not just chiropractors. Dentists, occupational therapists, physicians, and physiotherapists can all get on the medical acupuncture bandwagon. Some of these programs range from a whopping underwhelming 300 hour certificate to a dismal weekend course. Of course the proponents of this farce claim that acupuncture theory is too esoteric because it does not rely on sound anatomy and physiology.

Funny, I took A&P as well as biology, chemistry, biochemistry, lab data, western physical exam, nutrition, psychology, surface anatomy, and western pathology when I was in school. And those were not even 25% of my nearly 3000 hour graduate program!

But of course, this is all old news. The Medical Acupuncture Association has been around for ten years. And this is hardly the first time I have ranted about other disciplines encroaching on our territory without proper training.

What has me hot under the collar this time is the claim TCM is anecdotal while biomedical acupuncture is scientific - check out this zinger of a story.

The fact these "dry needling" techniques they teach in these seminars stems from over 3000 years of acupuncture theory and practice is apparently of no consequence. Oh yes, it is okay to jab needles into muscles and random trigger points (that's ashi points, those that have a real education in acupuncture know that already) and claim it has a "real" effect because it is causing a micro-trauma that stimulates the body's healing response. Not like that qi stuff that stimulates the body's healing response, no sir. When the point is needled, you are feeling the exact same sensations whether you call it a major quadratus lumborum trigger point or "Pi Gen," the difference is that in TCM, you are not just treating the branch symptom, you are treating the root cause.

The other reason I am so irritated is I just know insurance is going to start covering this nonsense. I already live in a state where legitimate acupuncturists cannot get in-network but at least chiropractors are banned, in theory, from practicing acupuncture without an acupuncture license for the moment (although they STILL put themselves in the phonebook under "physicians MD and osteopaths OD").

While the AAAOM is working to get professional parity through supposed acupuncture doctoral programs, our profession, which still does not have a national title and basic scope of practice, may just get pulled out from under us.