FAQs
- What advice would you give a customer looking to hire a provider in your area of work?
When seeking acupuncture, look for a practitioner who is certified by the NCCAOM, having passed the highly demanding national board exam. Look for someone with many years experience, and someone who has lots of post-graduate training. Licensed acupuncturists in Iowa are required to have continuing education, and are NCCAOM board-certified, as well as being required to use only sterile, single-use, disposable needles. They have three to four years of graduate level training and usually hold Master's degrees in the field. Avoid practitioners who claim to be 'certified' as this is not necessarily the same as NCCAOM certification. Other healthcare providers in Iowa, such as MDs and Chiropractors, are not required to have much training before doing acupuncture, and are not required to have continuing education in the area. They are also not required to use disposable needles. Their training is usually not as broad or as deep as that of a licensed acupuncturist in our state.