• Overview
  • Ethnicity and Culture
  • Models of Pain Management
  • Evaluating Literature
  • Professional Training, Licensure & Credentials
• Interventions
  • Common Approaches
  • Theories of Mechanism
  • Safety and Adverse Effects
• Conditions
  • Selected Conditions
  • Text Resources
  • Web Resources

Professional Training, Licensure & Credentials

This section provides information about training, licensure and credentialing of pain management practitioners.

Pain Management

• American Academy of Pain Medicine (AAPM)
  AAPM is the medical specialty society representing physicians practicing in the field of Pain Medicine. AAPM is the only pain organization with representation in the AMA House of Delegates. It offers continuing medical education (CME) opportunities for pain practitioners.

• American Board of Medical Specialities
  In March 1998, the American Board of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation and the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology joined the American Board of Anesthesiology in recognition of Pain Management (Pain Medicine) as an interdisciplinary subspecialty. The respective Boards have agreed upon a single standard of certification. 

• American Board of Pain Medicine

• Tufts School of Medicine Master of Science in Pain Research, Education and Policy (PREP)
  The first and only multidisciplinary postgraduate pain management program in the nation.

• Tufts School of Dental Medicine Postgraduate Area of Specialization - Temporomandibular Disorders and Related Orofascial Pain.
  A full-time two-year interdisciplinary certificate program leading to a three-year Master of Science degree. Medical rotations through neurology, psychology, anesthesia, otolaryngology, and other pain-related specialties are part of the clinical training.

CAM Modalities

• Among CAM modalities, only acupuncture, chiropractic, and massage have nationally recognized trainings, standards and licensing boards. Standards vary from state to state. [30, 31]

Acupuncture

• See the Licensure and Credentials section of the East Asian Medicine Module on this website.

Chiropractic

• American Chiropractic Association (ACA)
  Professional organization representing Doctors of Chiropractic.

Hypnosis

• The field is somewhat notorious for non-clinicians advertising meaningless credentials after only brief workshop exposure. Respected national professional organizations such as the American Society of Clinical Hypnosis (ASCH) and the Society for Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis (SCEH) grant certification to graduate level clinicians only after completion of requisite number of hours of approved training.

Massage

• American Massage Therapy Association (AMTA)
  Professional association for massage therapists.

• National Certification Board for Therapeutic Massage and Bodywork (NCBTMB)
  Credentialing organization for massage and bodyworkers. Contains information on certification examinations, educational requirements, and professional ethics. Also contains a section for consumers.

Meditation

No national credentialing is currently available. Various training programs such as the Mind Body Medical Institute and the Center for Mindfulness in Medicine, Health Care and Society, certify those who have completed a requisite number of training hours.

• The Mind Body Medical Institute, Herbert Benson, M.D., Director. Boston MA

• Center for Mindfulness in Medicine, Health Care and Society, University of Massachusetts Medical School. 

• Craniosacral Therapy (CST)

There is no national professional board, but certification is available via the Upledger Institute, Inc. to document level of training.