How Can I Locate the Right Traditional Chinese Medicine Practitioner for My Specific Needs?
Vitamin Insider has assembled a practical guide for locating Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) providers.
Remember: When you are seeking a TCM professional, it is important to be every bit as careful and thorough in your search as when looking for conventional care.
Professional Referral
To begin, if you need names of competent TCM practitioners in your area, first check with your healthcare team. Your doctor, pharmacist or another trusted health care provider is most likely to be familiar with local colleagues. A nearby hospital, medical school or local college of Oriental medicine/naturopathic medicine may also be able to provide referral services. Even your health insurance provider might be helpful with suggesting good sources of nontraditional care. Always be sure at the same time to ask your insurance representative about the terms and limitations of your policy coverage. Ask about provisions to reimburse for any alternative services you are considering.
State Credentialing Services
Also consider contacting your state licensing/registration boards or professional regulatory agencies. This way you can identify practitioners who have qualified for licensure, registration or certification. These individuals are expected to practice in accord with professional standards set within the jurisdiction.
You might also contact a state professional association to locate nearby TCM practitioners. For example the acupuncturists’ group is often designated by the state name followed by “Acupuncture Association.” Look online or in the telephone directory for Illinois (or other state) Acupuncture Association.
Be aware: Credentialing requirements can vary widely from state to state and from discipline to discipline.
National Professional Associations
On a nationwide scale you can find acupuncture and Oriental medicine foundations or associations which provide referrals. Among the best known are the following:
- The National Commission for the Certification of Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine (NCCAOM). This commission provides diplomas in acupuncture and in Chinese herb prescribing as well as maintains a listing of diplomates with the searchable web page.
http://mx.nccaom.org/FindAPractitioner.aspx
- The American Association of Oriental Medicine (AAOM). The association offers referrals to acupuncturists nationally and maintains a website for searching.
- The Institute for Traditional Medicine. The institute maintains a practitioner reference guide listing professionals in the U. S. and Canada.
http://www.itmonline.org/practitioner_guide.htm
- American Academy of Medical Acupuncture (AAMA). The academy is a professional society of physicians (M.D. and D.O.) in North America. These doctors have incorporated acupuncture into their traditional medical practice. The academy offers referral service at their website.
http://www.medicalacupuncture.org/
Federal Government Directory
The MedlinePlus Directories webpage provided by the National Library of Medicine lists organizations for some professions. It also provides links to directories of libraries and various types of health professionals, services and facilities at the web page:
https://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/directories.html
Family and Friends’ Referral
If a trusted family member or friend has previously had favorable experiences with a Traditional Chinese Medicine practitioner, many people will feel safer consulting that same professional on the basis of a friendly recommendation. Informal referrals like that are relatively easy to come by in places such as large cities or fortunate geographic areas like California or Oregon, where there are thousands of qualified practitioners. In those locations most people probably know somebody who has already received acupuncture or herbal therapy. In many other areas, though, this unfortunately is not the case. Then it may become necessary to find a practitioner without the advice of a friend or relative.
Telephone Directory or Yellow Pages
Additionally it may be helpful — or necessary as a last recourse — to look in the yellow pages of your local telephone directory or that of a nearby major city. Search for “acupuncturists,” for “physicians–naturopathic” or for similar headings to locate TCM practitioners.
As in most other professions, skill levels are likely to vary over a wide range. It is also important for best results to work with somebody with whom you feel comfortable; so, do not necessarily settle for the very first person you contact. When you hang up the phone, you should feel hopeful and energized, not obligated. As always, be a savy consumer and keep asking questions until you find the answers you really need … and deserve.
Remember: It is well within your rights to call an office in advance to ask about that practitioner’s training and experience. If you are seeking treatment for a specific condition, be sure to ask how much experience he/she has in treating that particular malady.
Last-Case Options
In the event that there are no viable options whatsoever for you to locate a Traditional Chinese Medicine practitioner anywhere nearby, what else can you do?
To start, even if it is not convenient, you might need to travel some distance to arrange an initial consultation. For herbal therapy, after the initial face-to-face meeting, you may subsequently be able to receive additional treatment by phone. Then, too, you could have necessary herbal supplies sent to you by mail.
In the case of serious ailments requiring more intense treatment, perhaps you could make special, one-time arrangements. Possibly you could contact a friend or relative in a major city. If you travel and stay there for a short while, then you could receive regular treatments at that location. The initial treatment may be sufficient to get the therapy under way. Then you might look at long distance follow-up treatment for later on.
If visiting a practitioner in person is not an option at all, there are still some treatments that you might be able to obtain for yourself. In the case nutrition therapy, for example, perhaps you could rely on products marketed nationwide. You could make choices after due diligence in studying the literature. Vitamins, minerals herbal remedies and other substances can be researched online or at a library. Then you can carefully follow the published recommendations. This approach, though, should not substitute for seeking direct, in-person care whenever an office visit is possible.
One More Caution
Sad to say, many products sold in stores or via the Internet and other routes do not deliver all that the label promises. Despite the hype and advertising, they actually may contain too little of the active components to meet recommended dosage. Beware of any vendors without a well-established reputation and a history of excellence.