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Acupuncture school
If you are interested in a career in medicine, there are options that you might not even have considered. Rather than going to medical school to study western medicine, you might consider studying traditional chinese medicine by attending acupuncture school. Acupuncture goes back more than 3000 years, and is widely used to treat a range of diseases urinary tract to ear nose and throat diseases to diseases asthma, to depression, anxiety, and even drug addiction. After attending acupuncture school, you will be able to treat practically anything that western doctor can treat with a few simple tools.
An acupuncturists main tool is a thin, flexible needle. When it is inserted into the patient, strangely enough, it doesn't hurt like an injection does. This is because it is very thin, and is not inserted very deeply, while an injection is given through a thick, hollow needle stuck deep into a vein.
These acupuncture needles are inserted into certain points along meridians. In acupunture school, they teach that the meridians are special channels in the human body, along which energy, called Qi, flows. This energy regulates all bodily processes. When it flows strongly and evenly, the body is healthy, but when the flow is disturbed, or if there is not enough Qu, it results in diseases. Through the acupuncture point, a practitioner can regulate the flow of Qi to correct diseases in the body.
Acupuncture is not necessarily used alone. Acupuncture school will, in addition, often teach other traditional chinese healing arts, such as herbology, bodywork, and the use of diet to enhance health. While Western medicine concerns itself mostly with correcting health problems once the become very serious, Chinese medicine concerns itself as much with prevention as with treatment. It is much better, and in the long run, easier, to prevent disease than to cure it.
Because it has not been completely accepted by the western medical establishment, many people assume that accupuncture is quackery. Nothing could be further from the truth. Most states have a board that oversees the practice of accupuncture and require up to four years of formal schooling. In many cases, to graduate acupuncture school, not only must a student understand principals of acupuncture, herbology, and oriental theory and diagnosis, but also biology, organic biochemistry, anatomy, history of medicine, and even clinical medicine. And because of the rigorous standards applied to the practice of acupuncture, as well as its proven results, it is rapidly gaining popularity and acceptance in the west. Many health plans are beginning to cover acupuncture treatments, recognizing its ability to prevent diseases from becoming more serious, and the affordability of its simple treatments compared to expensive medications and elaborate tests preferred by western medication. It can even be used in surgery as an alternative in anaesthesia. Acupuncture is an exciting, rapidly expanding field. There has never been a better time to practice.
