Acupuncture in America

By Grace Okhiulu

Acupuncture is one of the world’s oldest and most commonly used medical procedures. Widely used in the United States, acupuncture can be used alone as an alternative or complementary with other medical systems. About 5,000 years old, the practice is fairly new to North America. Before 1971, though available to the American public, acupuncture was neither well known or in the American mainstream. After James Reston’s July 1971 New York Times front page story, acupuncture became much better known. In that month and year, Reston, a Pulitzer Prize winning journalist and New York Times editor, traveled to China along with Henry Kissinger, then Secretary of State. The purpose of their visit was to prepare for President Nixon’s historical visit to that country the following year. On the trip, Reston fell ill with acute appendicitis and had an emergency appendectomy in a Peking hospital. Post-operatively, Reston, in a great deal of discomfort, was treated with acupuncture for pain relief. Very favorably impressed with the results, on returning to the States, Reston wrote an article in the Times about his experience with acupuncture.

A second development which helped propel acupuncture toward the American mainstream came from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). In 1997, the FDA changed the classification of acupuncture needles from Class III “experimental and investigational” devices to Class II “safe and effective” devices. The needles would be for general use only by licensed, registered or certified practitioners. Devices had to be sterile, single use only and disposable. Next, again in 1997, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) issued a statement documenting acupuncture’s safety and effectiveness for a range of health conditions.

Standards and requirements for acupuncture education have been set nationally by government recognized Accreditation Commission for Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine (ACAOM) and worldwide by the World Health Organization (WHO). Practitioners of Acupuncture in the United States must be state licensed and nationally certified. According to the ACAOM, in order to qualify for national certification and state licensor, acupuncturists must at least complete a total of 3,349 hours of training plus 1,032 hours of clinical internship in an accredited master’s degree or master’s level program. MD acupuncturists must complete a minimum of 300 hours of training which includes 100 hours of clinical training according to the Board of Medical Acupuncture Standards (BMAS).

Grace Okhiulu is board certified and state licensed in Acupuncture and Chinese Herbology. She practices in the Hudson Valley.
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