Educational Requirements to Become a Licensed & Board Certified Acupuncturist

In the last few weeks I have had many patients or family member's of patients ask what one needs to become an acupuncturist. Each person reacted with suprise. If someone is going to stick a needle in your body, they should be educated as to why, how, where, when etc. Just as important, education is there to keep patients safe. Safe from accidental insertion into an area that can cause harm, a medical emergency, or infection control.

To obtain an acupuncture license one needs:

• A Masters or Doctorate degree in Acupuncture. Like all medical schools, this involves a required amount of clinic hours prior to graduation.

• Post graduate courses on Clean Needle Technique. This is to make sure all needles and needle sites remain sterile and no infectious diseases spread.

• National Board Certification. To pass, one needs to pass a total of 3 different exams (4 if one is also an herbalist). In the state of MD, if you graduated from MUIH/Tai Sophia the state does not require National Certification to obtain a license. If you see that an acupuncturist has this (like myself) this means they spent an extra 1-3 years studying and taking exams to simply learn more for your care. You can identify this by the letters Diplo. of Acu after their name or if they state they are Board Certified.

• We take all of this documentation to then apply for a state license.

• Like many professions, Acupuncturists are required to take a specific amount of extra coursework every 2 years to keep and renew their license. This is an opportunity to cultivate areas of specialties and to keep up with current research.

• Melissa Steger, LAC, Diplo of Acu, LMT (Licensed Acupuncturist, Diplomate of Acupuncture obtained from being nationally Certified, Licensed Massage Therapist). Technically I can add an MAC for Master of Acupuncture though that seems redundant.