State takes first step to licensing acupuncturists: The Times, Trenton, NJ

Originally published Tuesday, March 5, 1985
Associated Press

The administration of New Jersey’s first test to license acupuncturists is a major step toward recognizing practitioners of the 5,000 year old Oriental medical treatment as health care professionals, a member of the examining board said yesterday.

The test prepared by the national committee for the Certification of Acupuncturists was administered to 45 applicants from New Jersey and states as far away as Illinois on Saturday at a Newark hotel.

Those who pass the written examination – the nine-member state Acupuncture Examining Board will receive the results in about a month – qualify to take the clinical part of the test in late April or early May, said board member Robert Lenahan.

“The state has taken a big step toward recognizing acupuncturists as health care professionals,” said Lenahan, who also is president of the New Jersey Register of Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine.

Acupuncture involved stimulating designated points below the skin by the insertion of needles that range in size from the diameter of a human hair to the width of a straight pin. Acupuncturists are aware of the points, how they relate to body organs and functions and how the treatments can be used to relieve pain and other ailments.

Among the illnesses that can be treated with acupuncture are migraine headaches, asthma, arthritis and toothaches.