"Chiropractic-style spinal manipulations are not an acceptable part of the tuina scope of practice ·"

Dear Editor:

The American Organization for Bodywork Therapies of Asia (AOBTA) objects to the misrepresentations of tuina expressed by others in your lead story, "Texas Attorney General Says Tuina Is NOT Part of Acupuncture" in the August 2001 issue.

The AOBTA is the largest membership organization within Asian medicine in the U.S. We establish the educational requirements for professional practitioners and instructors in tuina and a variety of forms of Asian bodywork therapy rooted in Chinese medicine. Our standards apply to schools of acupuncture and Asian bodywork.

Chiropractic-style spinal manipulations are not an acceptable part of the tuina scope of practice here in the United States, unless the practitioner is a professionally trained chiropractor. All of our members are obliged to observe our code of ethics, which includes performing only those services for which they are qualified. We choose to distance ourselves from any self-styled tuina practitioner who makes outrageous claims that conflict with our AOBTA standards of professional practice.

Barbra Esher, LAc, Dipl.Ac., ABT (NCCAOM)
President, AOBTA and the AOBTA Board of Directors

"Chiropractic-style manipulations are not part of the tuina scope of practice as defined by the AOBTA"

Dear Editor:

We would like to address some of the misunderstandings expressed in your article, "Texas Attorney General Says Tuina Is NOT Part of Acupuncture." Chiropractic-style manipulations are not part of the tuina scope of practice as defined by the AOBTA. The subtle use of qi stretching by professionally trained and nationally certified tuina practitioners cannot and should not be confused with the sort of quick spinal adjustments done by professionally trained chiropractors. To claim otherwise is to misrepresent tuina scope of practice in the U.S.

Our academy prepares students for the three respective NCCAOM exams (acupuncture, Chinese herbs and Asian bodywork therapy). We are also the only member of the AOBTA council of schools and programs in the state of Texas. For the record, our instructors do not teach chiropractic-style spinal adjustments in any of our lectures or demonstrations.

Stuart Watts, DOM, OMD, CI (AOBTA), President and CEO
Jamie Wu, OMD, MD (China), LAc, CI (AOBTA), Vice-president and Dean of Acupuncture
Pamela Ferguson, Dipl. ABT (NCCAOM), CI (AOBTA), RMT, Dean of Bodywork
Academy of Oriental Medicine at Austin
Austin, Texas

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