ACUPUNCTURE TRAINING IN THE UK - WHAT THE PATIENT NEEDS TO KNOW
There are a number of professions in the UK who claim they can are able to use Acupuncture as a treatment, GP's Nurses Physio's,
Chiropracters, Oesteopaths and Chinese Herbalists. So I thought it would be helpful to outline below the current training required in these professions to get the Title.- you will see that the length of training goes from two weeks to a full 3 year Degree course.
The general advice I would give you for signing up for any therapy - is ask to see qualification certificates and current medical liability insurance certificate for Acupuncture Treatment - this applies to all the professions listed above.
If a practioners English is really poor they may not be able to understand British Medical Names for Conditions or understand the western Drugs you take - there can be interactions between western drugs and herbal medicines - reseach is very difficult.
If qualification certificates are not in English - unless you speak their language walk away because you have no way of knowing whether it is real.
I think these rules apply to an awful lot of circumstances not just looking for an Acupuncturist.
THE ACUPUNCURE SOCIETY UK ( MAS) & BRITISH ACUPUNCTURE COUNCIL ( MBAC )
I am a member of the Acupuncture Society ( and for years was a member of BAC ) Both require Full public liability Insurance.
All Acupuncture Society and BAC members have completed a 3 year full time (degree level) course - until 1998 this was known as a Licentiate in Acupuncture it the became a BA Honour's Degree.
These courses involve 3,500 hours of continuous study, or a minimum of 450 days attendance at college and 12 months supervised clinical treatment of patients. Subjects include medical theory from China, Japan, Korea, Taiwan, India. Western anatomy and biology of disease, pharmaceutical research and much more.
BRITISH ACADEMY OF WESTERN MEDICAL ACUPUNCTURISTS ( BAWMA)
Only Doctors Nurses and Physiotherapists can do this course, they have 16 days training (128 hours).
This is called Trigger Point Acupuncture, and seems toi be mainly used for pain relief the theory was invented by Western medical doctors in the last century, when colonialism and imperialism believed that Western medicine was far superior to any other medical tradition.
Therefore there is no understanding or teaching of theory from any Chinese or Far Eastern Medical practice. There is no regard for Acupuncture channels or treating the whole person.
SOCIETY OF BRITISH MEDICAL ACUPUNCTURE (SBMA)
Only Doctor's, Nurses, Oesteopaths and Physiotherapists can do this course, they have a total of 12.5 days (100 hours training ). Same theory as BAWMA.
ACUPUNCTURE ASSOCIATION OF CHARTERED PHYSIOTHERAPISTS (ACCP)
They have a total of 10 days training ( 80 hours ) The theory base is the same as BAWMA.
CHINESE HERBALISTS WHO ALSO DO ACUPUNCTURE
They may be a member of the Acupuncture Society or BAC, if not check with the Register of Chinese Herbal Medicine (RCHM) 01603 623994 or the British Kanpo Association.
Find out if the staff are on commission to sell herbs- some of these shops are chains where the herbalists are poorly paid and so may try to give you the hard sell. If they use a translator- how good is the translator's English? and do they understand medical terminology.?
Remember Chinese Herbs and European herbs can be as strong as any western drug, they may interact with western medicine and there is virtually no research done in in English on this subject
Chinese herbs can come in pill form or loose herbs to be made into tea - they can be eye wateringly expensive due to import taxes on top of cost of harvesting and packing.
To summarise and this applies to any medical treatment you are going to have from Plastic Surgery to Acupuncture - Do your research, word of mouth is a useful start - is the Therapist recommended by others? Book a chat with the therapist and check them out - Look at the certificates (photograph the certificates if you can), get the membership numbers of the Organisation and Insurance they have, don't be talked into treatment that day or sign up for anything - go away, check with their professional register that they are still members and think about it before you sign up. There are Dr's in the UK who don't have the appropriate level of medical insurance.
Put your welfare first , I hope this information has been useful.
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