Acupuncture is a very ancient healing therapy that dates back at least 2000 years. Han dynasty tombs were found to contain acupuncture needles and there are first century texts that describe the meridians and acupuncture points that were known at that time.
Acupuncture is a very rich and complex therapy that is currently practiced world wide, and especially China where it is used alongside western medicine and is recognised as a powerful healing modality.
Acupuncture Training in the United Kingdom
In the UK acupuncture is available largely through private practitioners who may be trained in China or in the United Kingdom at accredited Acupuncture Colleges and, more recently, through universities . Courses generally last for three years and cover both Western medicine and the extensive and complex theory of acupunture.
Students on such courses are required to undertake a clinical year, where they treat patients under the supervision of senior acupuncturists. This means that by the time they have graduated, they have been trained to a high standard in both the theory and the practical aspects of acupuncture, thereby ensuring safety and the highest possible ethical practice.
However the same cannot be said for the standard of acupuncture being practiced in many hospitals and doctors surgeries around the United Kingdom.
Medical Acupuncture in Britain
Over recent years a new group of people calling themselves acupuncturists has come to the fore in the UK. These are the self named Medical Acupuncturists who are mainly doctors and nurses who have received very short courses - often as little as two weeks' training - who then go on to practice as if they are fully qualified acupuncturists.
Many of these practitioners know little or no acupuncture theory and they have reduced the skill of acupuncture to a mere "cook book" method. Not surprisingly, this has left many patients with a completely incorrect view of acupuncture and, still worse, when such simplistic treament methods fail to deliver good results, leave them with a feeling that acupuncture is useless.
Is the NHS Dumbing Down Acupuncture?
A genuine acupuncturist will look at the patient as a whole, not as a collection of symptoms. Planning the treatment accordingly, they will locate specific points that will relieve stress, release blocked energies, and alleviate pain. Using awareness built up over their years of training they address imbalances of mind, body and spirit.
The medical acupuncturist generally only knows a few acupuncture points and those points are supposed to address a very wide range of complaints. They do not understand the theory of acupuncture, but simply insert needles in various locations as instructed during their short course. Understandably, those who have spent years training to become acupuncturists view such practices with derision and feel that such treatments are not worthy to be labelled acupuncture.
Fully Trained Acupuncturists Respected by the Profession
There are a few Medical Acupuncturists who have taken the full three year course and can proudly say that they are Acupuncturists. But what of the rest? Patients are advised make enquiries of their GP as to how much training they have had and not to accept sub standard treatment, or better still, to seek out a fully trained private practitioner who is a member of the British Acupuncture Council, the body who regulates courses in the UK.
