Acupuncture School

If you happen to be interested in a career in medicine, there are alternatives that you might not even have considered. Instead of going to medical school to study western medicine, you might contemplate studying traditional chinese medicine by attending acupuncture school. Acupuncture goes back more than 3000 years, and is broadly used to treat a broad range of diseases urinary tract to ear nose and throat diseases to diseases asthma, to depression, anxiety, and even drug addiction. After attending acupuncture school, you will be able to treat practically anything that western physician can treat with several simple tools.

An acupuncturists main tool is a thin, flexible needle. When it is inserted into the patient, oddly enough, it does not hurt like an injection does. The reason is because it is very thin, and is not inserted very deeply, while an injection is given through a thick, hollow needle stuck deep into a vein.

These acupuncture needles are inserted into certain points along meridians. In acupunture school, they teach that the meridians are special channels in the body, along which energy, called Qi, flows. This energy regulates all bodily processes. When it flows strongly and evenly, the body is healthy, but when the flow is disturbed, or if there is not enough Qu, it results in diseases. Through the acupuncture point, a practitioner can regulate the flow of Qi to correct diseases in the body.

Acupuncture is not always used alone. Acupuncture school will, in addition, often teach other traditional chinese healing arts, like herbology, bodywork, and the use of diet to improve health. While Western medicine concerns itself primarily with correcting health problems once the become very serious, Chinese medicine concerns itself as much with prevention as with treatment. It is much better, and over the long term, easier, to prevent disease than to cure it.

Because it has not been completely accepted by the western medical establishment, numerous people assume that accupuncture is quackery. Nothing could be further from reality. Most states have a board that oversees the practice of accupuncture and require up to 4 years of formal schooling. In several cases, to graduate acupuncture school, not only must a student understand principals of acupuncture, herbology, and oriental theory and diagnosis, but also biology, organic biochemistry, anatomy, history of medicine, and even clinical medicine. And because of the rigorous standards applied to the practice of acupuncture, in addition to its proven results, it is rapidly gaining popularity and acceptance in the west. Many health plans are starting to cover acupuncture treatments, acknowledging its ability to prevent diseases from becoming more serious, and the affordability of its simple treatments compared to costly medications and elaborate tests preferred by western medication. It can even be used in surgery as an alternative in anaesthesia. Acupuncture is an exciting, rapidly expanding field. There has never been a better time to practice.