What Are the Possibilities For Learning Acupuncture?
There are hundreds of schools, associations or individuals teaching acupuncture around the world.
What sorts of opportunities exist for those who wish to learn the technique? 1.
They can go to China for three months and join intensive courses provided in Beijing and Nanjing for English speaking students and Shanghai for French speaking students.
The courses are sponsored by the World Health Organization (WHO).
Whilst they receive a diploma, this does not necessarily mean that the diploma received by the students allows them to practice in the country where they wish to work as it largely depends on the individual country's legislation.
The training courses in China started in 1976 and were an immediate success.
The country was just emerging from ten years of the Cultural Revolution.
The quality of the acupuncture teaching was somewhat variable and the students did not necessarily come back and start to practice on their return.
After a few years the standards of education on the courses improved as well as the translation skills within the colleges.
The content was traditional Chinese acupuncture.
The students came back with skills in practising traditional Chinese acupuncture.
An advanced three months course was also set up.
The organizers often accepted pretty well most of the students who applied.
2.
Later other colleges or universities in Guangzhou, Tianjin, Hangzhou, amongst other cities, started to provide acupuncture courses and tailored them to the requirements of the individual students.
Short or long training courses were also provided in many hospitals in China and Taiwan.
The topics and content were deeply traditional.
3.
In most other countries acupuncture training courses have been developed for and provided by medical doctors.
The courses vary in length from two weeks of intensive teaching repeated after a certain period or weekend courses stretching over months or even years with the number of weekends varying a lot, from 4 to 40.
The content and styles differed greatly between Colleges and Institutions and Societies.
Western medical acupuncture training in some countries concentrates on neuro-physiologically based treatment and trigger point treatment is used where appropriate.
They do not necessarily teach traditional Chinese acupuncture.
Some use a combination of Traditional Chinese acupuncture and Western Medical acupuncture.
4.
Sometimes individual independent practitioners who have devoted their whole lives to acupuncture teach everything they know to small groups of students.
This system is reminiscent of the old times in China when historically masters used to teach a group of disciples.
5.
So far, there are few acupuncture courses online.
These usually supplement practical courses and this work is in its infancy.
Distance learning modules are likely to increase in the future.
The advantage of that system is that the students can learn at home, at their own pace, and do not have to go to specific places where the courses are given (sometimes quite far from where they live) and receive intensive training in short periods of time.
However total on line courses would not be considered safe practice.
This somewhat artificial breakdown of acupuncture teaching methods is intended to give a general idea and may well leave out some approaches.
If practitioners are medically trained and use acupuncture following an orthodox medical model, the acupuncture training is not necessarily as long or intense as if the student has not yet got a medical degree or is not a qualified allied health professional.
What sorts of opportunities exist for those who wish to learn the technique? 1.
They can go to China for three months and join intensive courses provided in Beijing and Nanjing for English speaking students and Shanghai for French speaking students.
The courses are sponsored by the World Health Organization (WHO).
Whilst they receive a diploma, this does not necessarily mean that the diploma received by the students allows them to practice in the country where they wish to work as it largely depends on the individual country's legislation.
The training courses in China started in 1976 and were an immediate success.
The country was just emerging from ten years of the Cultural Revolution.
The quality of the acupuncture teaching was somewhat variable and the students did not necessarily come back and start to practice on their return.
After a few years the standards of education on the courses improved as well as the translation skills within the colleges.
The content was traditional Chinese acupuncture.
The students came back with skills in practising traditional Chinese acupuncture.
An advanced three months course was also set up.
The organizers often accepted pretty well most of the students who applied.
2.
Later other colleges or universities in Guangzhou, Tianjin, Hangzhou, amongst other cities, started to provide acupuncture courses and tailored them to the requirements of the individual students.
Short or long training courses were also provided in many hospitals in China and Taiwan.
The topics and content were deeply traditional.
3.
In most other countries acupuncture training courses have been developed for and provided by medical doctors.
The courses vary in length from two weeks of intensive teaching repeated after a certain period or weekend courses stretching over months or even years with the number of weekends varying a lot, from 4 to 40.
The content and styles differed greatly between Colleges and Institutions and Societies.
Western medical acupuncture training in some countries concentrates on neuro-physiologically based treatment and trigger point treatment is used where appropriate.
They do not necessarily teach traditional Chinese acupuncture.
Some use a combination of Traditional Chinese acupuncture and Western Medical acupuncture.
4.
Sometimes individual independent practitioners who have devoted their whole lives to acupuncture teach everything they know to small groups of students.
This system is reminiscent of the old times in China when historically masters used to teach a group of disciples.
5.
So far, there are few acupuncture courses online.
These usually supplement practical courses and this work is in its infancy.
Distance learning modules are likely to increase in the future.
The advantage of that system is that the students can learn at home, at their own pace, and do not have to go to specific places where the courses are given (sometimes quite far from where they live) and receive intensive training in short periods of time.
However total on line courses would not be considered safe practice.
This somewhat artificial breakdown of acupuncture teaching methods is intended to give a general idea and may well leave out some approaches.
If practitioners are medically trained and use acupuncture following an orthodox medical model, the acupuncture training is not necessarily as long or intense as if the student has not yet got a medical degree or is not a qualified allied health professional.