Chinese Medicine Specialist

Traditional Chinese Medicine Specialists employ a variety of Alternative Medicine techniques to promote good health, cure disease, and treat painful or discomforting symptoms. Specific therapies include time-honored traditional treatments like Acupuncture, Herbal Remedies, Acupressure, Qi Gong, Chinese Massage, and other similar treatments.

Chinese medicine schools promote the view that people are energy systems in which the mind, body, and spirit can be unified into a single unit when each of these elements are working in harmony with one another. The philosophy behind traditional Chinese medicine courses promotes a focus on “qi”, or a person’s vital energy force, and on maintaining and improving it’s flow through the patient’s physical body to improve everyday health and prevent disease.

Chinese medicine training programs are mostly found in China and the United States, though interest in the field is growing internationally as many individuals seek a return to more nature-based and less pharmaceutical approaches to their healthcare needs. The People’s Republic of China traditional medicine school offers college degrees and other Chinese medicine education programs for four different practical areas, including: acupuncture, eastern massage, herbal medicine, and pharmacology. Schools in the United States offer similar programs.

Salary

The Bureau of Labor Statistics does not collect earning data on graduates from traditional eastern medicine schools. The American Association of Oriental Medicine, however, has reported that natural medicine school graduates earn on average between $40 to $70 per hour for treatment sessions.

Training and Qualifications

Traditional Chinese Medicine degree programs and certification courses vary in their requirements, with some programs lasting for mere months, and others taking multiple years to complete. There are Master Degree Programs and even a Doctor of Chinese Medicine program available from highly recognized and well-known schools specializing specifically in Eastern medicine, though space for these programs is quite limited. Some fields, like Acupuncture, have published state requirements, so be sure to select a program that will provide the training and certification that you need to practice in your home state.

Job Outlook

Demand for Chinese Medicine doctors has grown in recent years, and is projected to continue growing at a tremendous pace, along with the rest of the Healthcare industry. Awareness of and demand for Holistic treatments has rapidly increased due to widespread knowledge of drug complications and side effects, and increasing curiosity of traditional Eastern medicine.

Chinese Medicine specialists can except to find high demand for procedures like acupuncture, massage, herbal remedies, and other more traditional practices. In fact, according to the Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine Alliance, the number of acupuncturists nearly tripled in the last decade, climbing from 5,525 in 1992 to 14,228 in 2000. The 2008 to 2018 decade is anticipated to show similar results.

Advancement

Traditional eastern medicine specialists holding a masters degree may advance to doctoral degree programs. Massage therapists and other similar healthcare professions may also pursue a program at a traditional medicine school as a type of specialized advancement. There is virtually unlimited growth potential in this industry since Chinese medicine specialists can open their own shops or clinics and become business owners, as well as healthcare practitioners.

Learn More

To learn more about Chinese medicine schools and other natural medicine programs, please fill out our Find a School form.