Unfortunately, figuring out whether an acupuncturist is licensed is not as easy as it looks. Although the most common degree designation for an acupuncturist is LAc, some states use different titles or abbreviations to signify that their practitioners are licensed.
Listed below are some of the most commonly used abbreviations (and their titles) in the acupuncture and Oriental medicine profession. If you know of another title or organization that should be on this list, please contact us at Editorial@AcupunctureToday.com and we will add it to the list.
| Abbreviation | Title |
| ABT | Asian Bodywork Therapist |
| AcD | Acupuncture Doctor (used in Canada) |
| AP | Acupuncture Physician (used in Florida) |
| ASA | American Society of Acupuncturists |
| CA, CAc | Certified Acupuncturist |
| CH | Chinese Herbalist |
| CT | Clinical Technician |
| DAc | Doctor of Acupuncture (used in Hawaii) |
| D. Acu | Doctor of Acupuncture (used in Rhode Island) |
| DACM | Doctorate of Acupuncture & Chinese Medicine |
| Dipl. ABT | Diplomate in Asian Bodywork Therapy |
| Dipl. Ac. | Diplomate in Acupuncture |
| Dipl. CH | Diplomate in Chinese Herbalism |
| Dipl. OM | Diplomate in Oriental Medicine |
| DNBAO | Diplomate, National Board of Acupuncture Orthopedics |
| DAOM | Doctor of Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine |
| DOM | Doctor of Oriental Medicine |
| DTCM, Dr. TCM | Doctor of Traditional Chinese Medicine (used in Canada) |
| FIAMA | Fellow, International Academy of Medical Acupuncture |
| LAc, Lic. Ac. | Licensed Acupuncturist |
| MAOM | Master, Art of Oriental Medicine |
| MSOM | Master, Science of Oriental Medicine |
| MTCM | Master, Traditional Chinese Medicine |
| MTOM | Master, Traditional Oriental Medicine |
| OMD | Oriental Medicine Doctor |
| PhD | Doctor of Philosophy |
| RAc, Reg. Ac. | Registered Acupuncturist (used in Colorado and Canada) |
| R. TCM. H. | Registered Traditional Chinese Medicine Herbalist (used in Canada) |
| R. TCM. P. | Registered Traditional Chinese Medicine Practitioner (used in Canada) |
| TCMD | Traditional Chinese Medicine Doctor (used in Canada) |
| Abbreviation | Organization |
| AAMA | American Academy of Medical Acupuncture |
| AAOM | American Association of Oriental Medicine |
| ACAOM | Accreditation Commission for Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine |
| AOBTA | American Organization for Bodywork Therapies of Asia |
| CCAOM | Council of Colleges of Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine |
| FAOMRA | Federation of Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine Regulatory Agencies |
| IAMA | International Academy of Medical Acupuncture |
| IVAS | International Veterinary Acupuncture Society |
| NADA | National Acupuncture Detoxification Association |
| NAOMA | National Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine Alliance |
| NCCAOM | National Commission for the Certification of Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine |
| NSAA | National Sports Acupuncture Association |
| SAR | Society for Acupuncture Research |
Chronic pain afflicts over 20% of the adult population. Sadly, most MDs have essentially no education in treating pain, beyond offering a few toxic medications. Then they tend to steer people with pain away from those health practitioners who are trained. This puts the acupuncture community on the front lines for addressing this epidemic.
When the body is going through a stressful event, the sympathetic system is activated. This activation will help the body with a life-threatening situation. If this state is activated for prolonged periods of time, it starts to consume energy. These traumatic events that generate stressors in the autonomic nervous system (ANS) will eventually become internalized.
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One of the things that makes acupuncture so difficult to measure is that the medicine actually does contain some esoteric aspects. There have been numerous studies that demonstrate the neurochemical reasoning behind why acupuncture points stimulate the autonomic nervous system to enact change However, not all the benefits of TCM can easily be measured by randomized, controlled trials. But does that make them fundamentally and definitively untrue?
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