Yin/Yang Symbol How to contact Acupuncture.com

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Please review the questions on this page to determine if the answer is already listed here for you. Otherwise, please use the e-mailing link at the bottom of this page.

  1. Can acupuncture cure my condition?
  2. How can I find a good practitioner?
  3. Info on smoking or addiction therapy.
  4. I want to be listed on the practitioner referral pages or TCM school list.
  5. I'd like to have Acupuncture.com link to my web page.
  6. How do I get an education in acupuncture or traditional Oriental medicine?
  7. Where can I purchase acupuncture needles?
  8. What books do you suggest to learn more?
  9. Where can I find pictures of the acupoints and their meridians?
  10. I'd like more information on how to order products from Acupuncture.com
  11. Where can I find newsgroups, mailing lists, or computer programs specific to traditional Oriental medicine?
  12. I'd like to submit an article to be uploaded to Acupuncture.com

Can acupuncture cure my condition?

  1. Sure, sometimes. Basically, Traditional Oriental Medicine can be and is used for any medical need. Pain, hormonal, neurological, psychological, metabolic, immune system, there are treatments for everything.

    When to use acupuncture or herbs? If you are having an acute attack that is life threatening, you should go to a hospital. If your condition is chronic, you're an excellent candidate for Oriental medicine.

    If you're looking for statistics on acupuncture's efficacy on your specific condition, please see the Acupuncture and Herbal medicine Research Page. On this page you'll also see a link to MEDLINE at the end of the table of contents. Just about any keywords entered into this data base will turn up some useful information.

    Or, see Acupuncture.com's Treatment Testimonials.

    Essentially, the condition that you'd like to have treated is likely being described in Western terms like something such as "Uterine Fibroids" or "Ulcerative Colitis". These conditions don't actually exist according to the traditional Oriental way, and so, the differential diagnosis is an essential ingredient used to the creation of a prognosis. Even something as simple as a headache can be treated in minutes when it comes to a stress induced migraine, the kind that appears on the temples or the sides of the head. However, the chronic headache that one might feel in the back of the head might take much longer to treat since it has a very different cause, one that is just as treatable, but much longer time is required.

    To see how the practitioner of traditional Oriental medicine might treat your condition, please see: Clinical Point Selections.

    To see how the practitioner of traditional Oriental medicine might diagnose your condition, please see Symptomatic Diagnosis.

    Now, to locate information on your specific condition, please see any of the following pages:

    1. Acupuncture
    2. Herbology
    3. Qi Gong
    4. Chinese Nutrition
    5. Tui Na and Chinese Massage
    6. Diagnosis

    For more information, contact a practitioner near you who can better assess the potential efficacy of a treatment for your specific condition and your unique constitution. If there are no practitioners in your area, you might seek to find out how acupuncture is regulated in your state.

    Another source for practitioners, even if acupuncture is not regulated in your state, or country is to visit a school that teaches Chinese martial arts. The instructors often know of Chinese practitioners who are practicing without a license "underground." In this case, you'll have to weigh the legal issues with the health concerns. It's your choice.

    And now, the official Acupuncture.com list of experienced practitioners for specific questions regarding your health concerns. If the topic of your question isn't listed below, please follow the advice given above.


How can I find a good practitioner?

  1. Make sure that they're licensed in accordance with the laws of your state or country.
  2. Here's a list of practitioners all over the world.
  3. M.D.'s and Chiropractors may be your only option in some areas. In such a case, please visit them with our blessings. However, given the choice, you should at least recognize the difference between what M.D.'s call "medical acupuncture" and what licensed acupuncturists practice which is acupuncture as part of an entire system of viewing health and the human body known as traditional Oriental medicine. Practitioners of Western medicine such as Chiropractors, M.D.'s or D.O.'s can be approved to practice acupuncture with as little as one weekend's worth of training. These doctors are to be commended for their desire to use new technologies such as acupuncture to the betterment of the lives of their patients. However, from the perspective of those of us trained in traditional Oriental medicine, it is a very superficial application of the genius of what this medicine has to offer. Ultimately, it is the patient who must decide what is best for him or her. We'd simply like to remind you that what we, as practitioners of Oriental medicine do cannot be learned in a weekend. Everything we do cannot and will likely never be understood in Western terms. We are spearheading an entire change in the way we look at our bodies, and the way in which we think of life itself. If you can't find a practitioner of traditional Oriental medicine, then a doctor who does acupuncture is the next best thing. We wish you the best.

    For more information on the difference between medical acupuncture (the popular term for Western medicine's interpretation of acupuncture) and traditional Oriental medicine's usage of acupuncture can be found at the article called "Oriental and Western Medicine Compared"

  4. When you've found a practitioner, make sure that you feel comfortable with this person. This is very important. People's intuition is a far better gauge than anything that I can tell you. For each patient, there is a practitioner, but the practitioner who would be best for me, may not be best for you. That's why I suggest that you trust your feelings. They are very intelligent.

What information can you give me regarding acupuncture efficacy for cessation of smoking or other addiction?

  1. Smoking cessation is a popular treatment with acupuncture. It usually involves points on the ear. Sometimes these needles are hooked up to an "Electro-stim" machine which sends minute pulses of electricity to the needles. Many believe that this increases the efficacy of the treatment.

    Depending on the practitioner, and the patient's unique needs, there may be some other needles placed elsewhere on the body as well.

    Treatments vary widely. Some advertise that only one treatment is needed. I've heard of this working, though I think that the patients that respond to only one treatment are few and far between, but that's just my opinion.

    The treatment protocol with which I'm the most familiar includes three treatments in the first week and two treatments in the fifth week. There's a psychological wall that one passes through after the fourth week, and this is why the fifth week's treatments are suggested.

    Here are some articles that may be of interest to you:

    1. Ear Acupuncture for Substance Addictions
    2. Smoking Cessation Protocol
    3. Acupuncture for Addictions
    4. National Acupuncture Detox Association
    5. Research
    6. Drug Court, an introduction
    7. Drug Court, a template for success

I'm a practitioner or a representative of a school who would like to have my information listed on the referral pages or the master schools page.

  1. You'll want to send me the following information via e-mail:

    For Practitioners:

    1. Your name with licensing initials as is appropriate to the laws of your area.
    2. The street address of your practice.
    3. The county in which you practice (California practitioners only)
    4. Your phone number and fax, if you would like to include that.
    5. Your e-mail address if you have one
    6. The URL of your web page if you have one.

    For TCM school representatives:

    1. The name of your school
    2. Its address
    3. Its phone number
    4. The URL of its web page if there is one.

I'd like to have Acupuncture.com link to my web page.

  1. Please use the e-mail link at the bottom of this page to inform me of your page's URL. Once per month, I update the Acupuncture.com Links Page. Before I make the link, I will take a look at your page. If it meets the Acupuncture.com standards, we will gladly link to you.

    Standards include, but are not limited to:

    1. Pages that stress information rather than hard-sell sales information.
    2. Pages that are specific to alternative medicine, with a stress on traditional and energetic therapies.

How do I get an education in acupuncture or traditional Oriental medicine?

  1. Becoming a practitioner of TCM or TOM (same thing, traditional Chinese medicine or traditional Oriental medicine) is a very simple process if there's a school in your area. Otherwise it gets a little more complicated.

    Firstly, each state has different educational requirements. For more info on this topic, see the State Laws page.

    Then, see the list of schools available. Some are accredited by their state, some are also accredited by ACAOM, which is federal accreditation. The accreditation status listed on the schools list reflects the federal accreditation.

    Federal accreditation means that the school has raised its standards to the minimum requirements set forth by the federal government. It also means that federally guaranteed student loans are available for tuition and living expenses while studying at these schools.

    Another thing to keep in mind, is that since each state has different requirements for licensure, the lengths and qualities of the programs at these schools vary greatly. California schools are among the more challenging in that they require three years minimum training, though most students do it in four. Most California schools require 60 semester units to enter their program. Their programs are about one third acupuncture and theory, one third herbology and one third Western science.

    And now, the link to the list of Schools and Colleges of Acupuncture and Traditional Oriental Medicine.


Where can I purchase acupuncture needles, or stuff like that...?

  1. Here are a few sources for you:

    OMS Medical Supplies, Inc.
    Offering a complete 84 page color catalog, featuring:

    SEIRIN Online

    Lhasa Medical, Inc.
    Offering a 44 page color Catalog. Lhasa is Your Best Source for
    Chinese and Korean Acupuncture Needles, featuring:


    What books do you suggest to learn more?

    1. The best book to begin with to understand Chinese medicine is "The Chinese Way to Healing" by Misha Cohen. It is available at the Acupuncture.com Book Farm.

      The best book to begin with to understand acupuncture is "The Web That Has No Weaver" by Ted Kaptchuk. It is available at the Acupuncture.com Book Farm.

      A great introductory text on Chinese herbal medicine is called "Between Heaven and Earth" by Harriet Beinfield and Efrem Korngold. It is also found at the Acupuncture.com Book Farm.


    Where can I find pictures of the acupoints and their meridians?

    1. There are a few charts uploaded, though they are partial.

      You'll find them in the following articles:

      1. The Twelve Primary Qi Channels
      2. The Eight Extraordinary Qi Vessles
      3. Ear Acupuncture Point Charts

      And then there are some very good images found at the following site's bulletin board: University of Technology, Sydney: College of Acupuncture

      If you would like to purchase some full-color charts, please contact: Redwing Book Company. They're located in Brookline, Massachusetts, USA.


    I'd like more information on how to order products from Acupuncture.com

    1. Acupuncture.com doesn't really sell anything, its not a school, its not a product, except perhaps an advertising vehicle. Still, if there is something that you found listed for sale at Acupuncture.com, then please return to that page and locate the sponsor's e-mailing link which is found within the copy of the page. On some of the pages, there is no e-mailing link, but there is an snail-mail address or a phone number that you can contact.

    Where can I find newsgroups, mailing lists, or computer programs specific to traditional Oriental medicine?

    1. This one's easy. Please see The Links Page.

    I'd like to submit an article to be uploaded to Acupuncture.com

    1. Good, send it on in! There are basically two demographics that we write for at Acupuncture.com. Consumers, and practitioners. Obviously, the way in which you say what you need to say depends on who you're saying it to. In either case, if your article is uploaded, you'll receive a byline plus referral information or a link to your web page as is appropriate.

      Files can be sent in as attached documents to e-mail, or you can simply cut and paste your document directly into the e-mailing window. If you want to attach the file, I can open any Microsoft document generated from any platform. If you've created your document in any other program, you should save it as "text only" and then send it to Acupuncture.com.


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