What kind of education and training do acupuncturists receive?
This important question has a varied answer. Chinese medicine first came to the US during the 1970’s, when James Resdon, a NY Times reporter received acupuncture anesthesia during an emergency appendectomy while in China. (He was part of President Nixon’s entourage reporting on negotiations to open China for trade with the US .) He ran a story about the amazing experience he had with TCM (Traditional Chinese Medicine). [How acupuncture became popular in the US: James Resdon story] Shortly thereafter, acupuncturists began noticeably practicing in this country, and acupuncture colleges began to appear. The early acupuncture college programs in the US were typically two years in length. At that time, not many books on TCM had been translated or written in English, so the early students received much of their material orally from more experienced practitioners. Since that time, acupuncture colleges have proliferated in the US, the programs have increased in length, and a great amount of sc
