From the OAA website: "The OAA functions as an all volunteer board of dedicated professionals united with the goal of improving access to authentic acupuncture as a medical practice. The board engages and oversees committees that collaborate in many areas to elevate the knowledge and skills of licensed providers while informing the public about the education, practice, board exams, and licensure standards of licensed acupuncturists and herbalists."
From the OAA website: "The OAA vision is to use strong, incentivized membership to engage in effective public outreach, education and AOM advocacy resulting in public policy that supports financial sustainability for practitioners, a strong statewide, national and international AOM community, and full integration of AOM in modern health care."
From the OAA website: "Acupuncture medicine defines the scope of primary Licensed Acupuncturists (L.Acs), which includes related modalities (tui na massage, moxibustion, gua sha, cupping, light therapy, and often herbal medicine) as taught in accredited Acupuncture Masters and Doctorate degree programs that incorporate a foundation of established frameworks designed to inform assessment, diagnosis, and application of acupuncture as a dynamic medical paradigm. Primary acupuncturists weave theoretical, diagnostic, and acupuncture frameworks into a complete practice that requires passing 3-4 national board exams after 3,000 hours of education and clinical internship. Secondary acupuncture providers utilize basic frameworks such as dry needling (trigger therapy), medical acupuncture, or ear acupuncture protocols that requires 0-300 hours of non-accredited training or oversight.
In professional acupuncture practice, there are many acupuncture approaches, styles, and applications. Which acupuncture styles, approaches, and applications a licensed acupuncturist uses, depends on the practitioner’s general practice population or specialty. Some examples of specialties include internal medicine, neurology, orthopedics, dermatology, ophthalmology, pediatrics, fertility, women’s health, men’s health, sports medicine, pain management, functional medicine, integrated medicine, and wellness.
The dynamic contribution of Chinese medical theories continues to inform and fill gaps in mechanisms of pain, function, and disease from cellular level to systemic influences. The Chinese medical framework of diagnosis facilitates the mechanistic understanding of modern and emerging diseases that inform the criteria for therapy aimed at resolution or maximum improvement. The Western medicine frameworks of moribund diagnoses are often limited to a collection of signs and symptoms, images, and blood work that support the criteria for surgery, diagnostic procedures, and management of symptoms through medication. However, technological advancements are helping to explain and expand emerging integrated frameworks that are paramount for the changing paradigm of mainstream medicine away from sick management towards wellness."
Dr. Heide is a current member of the OAA.
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