Could someone do acupuncture at home? You should not attempt acupuncture at home unless you are a licensed acupuncturist. No one should attempt acupuncture at home unless one is a licensed acupuncturist....
No one should attempt acupuncture at home unless one is a licensed acupuncturist. If one does not understand the philosophy of Chinese medicine then one wouldn't really know which points to use and how to properly use them. With acupuncture needles one needs to be skilled and trained to insert the needles because if not, one may harm or cause pain to the patient. There are different directions the needle may need to go in order to properly help the patient. According to Annie Sturman, a licensed physician acupuncturist who has helped patients for the past 20 years, "it's not that they are severely hurting the patient, they are just treating symptoms, not the root of the problem."
The point of acupuncture is to help cure or aid an illness. If these practices are done carelessly then the root of the problem does not diminish; instead it may cause additional or further harm to the illness. According to other acupuncturists, improperly performed acupuncture can cause fainting, bleeding from a punctured blood vessel, a punctured lung, convulsions, infections, and hepatitis B from unsterile needles.
With acupuncture there are laws governing the practice. According to Barrett an acupuncture boom occurred in the U.S. Many people jumped on the bandwagon and started advertising acupuncture clinics, seminars, demonstrations, books, courses and kits. Because of the increase of non- physicians practicing acupuncture, several states restrict the practice of acupuncture to physicians. "We have to follow regulations regulated by the Board of Health but people don't think of us as physicians because they are not familiar with us yet," Sturman said. The National Certification Commission for Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine set certification standards and certified several thousand practitioners, with 32 states have licensing laws. For example, according to the Los Angeles Chinese Learning Center one is allowed to practice acupuncture only after successfully completing four years of training at an approved college of Oriental Medicine, and passing a rigorous written and practical exam given by the California Acupuncture Committee.
Acupuncture is safe if performed by a qualified, licensed practitioner. If someone is knowledgeable about the human anatomy and ancient practices of Chinese acupuncture and has the proper license, they can give a patient treatment in a safe and healthy manner. As stated by the National Center for Complimentary and Alternative Medicine, The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved acupuncture needles for use by licensed practitioners in 1996. The organization requires that sterile, non-toxic needles be used and that they be labeled for single use by qualified practitioners only. Remember to choose the acupuncturist with care. A patient is seeking treatment for an illness or chronic pain and wants relief, not additional complications.
