What is the difference between someone that practices Medical Acupuncture, and someone with a Masters in Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine?
This can very greatly from person to person depending on how much they pursue extra training, and what they believe about acupuncture. However in the beginning of each degree,there are 2 big differences. For one, someone with a Masters in Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine is trained in asian massage and herbal medicine as well as acupuncture. The second big difference is the amount of training. Here are some examples to give you an idea of the difference in training: In order to get an associate membership (the lowest form of membership) in the American Academy of Medical Acupuncture you need to have completed a class of at least 200 hours. For the next level up you need 220 hours of training (100 didactic and 120 clinical) and have 2 years of experience using this acupuncture. One of the best schools of Medical Acupuncture, the Helms Medical Institute provides a series of weekends over a 6 month period to complete their 300 hr program. In contrast, the school I graduated from (Oregon
