Acupuncture in Tennessee is regulated as a healing-arts profession under Tennessee Code Annotated Title 63 Chapter 6 Part 10, which created the Tennessee Board of Acupuncture and set the licensure floor for the title Licensed Acupuncturist (L.Ac.). The path runs through a Master of Acupuncture, Master of Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine, or Master of Science in Traditional Chinese Medicine program accredited by the Accreditation Commission for Acupuncture and Herbal Medicine (ACAHM, formerly ACAOM), followed by the four-module National Certification Commission for Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine examination sequence that yields the Diplomate of Acupuncture (Dipl. Ac. NCCAOM) credential. Clean Needle Technique certification through the Council of Colleges of Acupuncture and Herbal Medicine sits inside the same gateway and confirms that the practitioner has trained on the sterile single-use filiform needle protocol that every state board references for safe practice.
The three Nashville practices below are L.Ac.-staffed clinics operating under the TN Board of Acupuncture, distinct in scope from physician offices that hold the AAMA medical acupuncturist pathway open to MDs and DOs who add acupuncture training to a primary medical license. Each runs the standard Traditional Chinese Medicine outpatient mix that drives adult acupuncture in Davidson County: filiform needle acupuncture for musculoskeletal pain, fertility and reproductive support around IUI and IVF cycles, anxiety and insomnia treatment, digestive and migraine care, chemotherapy and radiation side-effect management, and adjunctive auriculotherapy patterned on the National Acupuncture Detoxification Association five-point ear protocol where indicated. Cupping, moxibustion, electroacupuncture, and Chinese herbal medicine sit alongside needle therapy as the standard adjuncts that L.Ac. training covers.
Quick Comparison #
| Firm | Credentials | Focus |
|---|---|---|
| Encircle Acupuncture | Five Tennessee L.Ac. clinicians licensed under TCA Title 63, Chapter 6, Part 10; ACAHM-accredited master's training; NCCAOM Diplomate of Acupuncture credentials | Community acupuncture on a sliding-scale model across two Nashville locations, pain, stress, allergies, hormonal patterns, and fertility |
| Nashville Acupuncture Clinic | Solo L.Ac. licensure under the Tennessee Board of Acupuncture; NCCAOM certification; NCBAHMT certification; MSTCM from Texas College of Traditional Chinese Medicine | In-network TCM for pain management, sports medicine, women's health, oncology side-effect support, respiratory and digestive disorders |
| Nashville Center for Alternative Therapy | L.Ac. licensure under the Tennessee Board of Acupuncture; NCCAOM certified; AOMA Graduate School of Integrative Medicine MAOM training; Mei Zen Cosmetic Acupuncture certification | Fertility acupuncture around IUI and IVF cycles, cosmetic acupuncture, trigger-point needling, cupping, and integrated Chinese herbal medicine |
1. Encircle Acupuncture #
Encircle Acupuncture is the oldest and largest community acupuncture practice in Nashville, founded as East Nashville Community Acupuncture in 2010 by Alexa Hulsey, L.Ac., and renamed Encircle in 2019 after the second clinic location opened. The East Nashville flagship operates from 805 Woodland Street, Suite 340, Nashville, TN 37206, with appointment scheduling at (615) 457-1979, and the Bellevue clinic operates from 140 Belle Forest Circle, Nashville, TN 37221, with scheduling at (615) 645-9866. The current acupuncture staff is five L.Ac. clinicians: Alexa Hulsey, Trey Brackman as Bellevue clinic director, Jessica McAliley, Ali Bellos, and Teri Cook, with Jessica McAliley holding a Master’s degree in Traditional Chinese Medicine from Yo San University in Los Angeles.
The community acupuncture model is the structural feature that separates the clinic from private-room TCM offices in the metro: patients are treated in a shared treatment room with reclining chairs at the same time, the L.Ac. circulates between patients during the retention period, and the price moves on a $25 to $50 sliding scale that the patient self-selects without income verification. Initial visits are fifty dollars, follow-up visits land on the sliding scale, and the office runs extended evening and weekend hours that the community model is designed to support. The clinic positions the format as an access path for patients who want higher visit frequency, since musculoskeletal and stress-related TCM treatment plans typically run multiple sessions per week early in care.
Service Mix at the Clinic #
The treatment menu at Encircle covers community acupuncture as the core service, with cupping therapy for myofascial release, Soliman’s Auricular Allergy Technique (SAAT) for environmental and food allergy patterns, and TCM consultation for full pattern differentiation outside the community room. The conditions list the practice publishes runs across pain, stress, anxiety, insomnia, headaches and migraines, seasonal and environmental allergies, hormonal imbalance patterns, digestive disorders, and infertility, which tracks the standard TCM outpatient indication set that L.Ac. training covers. The two-location coverage puts community acupuncture inside reach of patients on both the east and west sides of the metro at the sliding-scale visit cadence the model is built for.
https://encircleacupuncture.com/
2. Nashville Acupuncture Clinic #
Nashville Acupuncture Clinic is the solo Traditional Chinese Medicine practice of Sepideh Kohanim, L.Ac., MSTCM, NCCAOM certified and NCBAHMT certified, located at 7980 Coley Davis Road, Suite 102, Nashville, TN 37221, with scheduling at (615) 692-8248. Sepideh Kohanim holds a Master of Science in Traditional Chinese Medicine from the Texas College of Traditional Chinese Medicine in Austin and a Bachelor of Science in Diet and Nutrition from Lamar University in Beaumont, Texas, and has been in continuous practice since 2008, putting her near two decades of clinical hours at the table. The office is open Monday through Friday from 9:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. by appointment only.
The clinic is one of the few TCM offices in the Nashville market that runs as a credentialed in-network provider across major medical plans, with current contracts listed for Aetna, Anthem, Blue Cross Blue Shield, United Healthcare, MedRisk, and the Department of Veterans Affairs Community Care Network. That insurance posture lets a patient who carries acupuncture coverage in the medical benefit run a treatment course through the standard medical claim process rather than the out-of-network superbill route that most TCM offices default to. The office also accepts FSA and HSA funds, cash, check, Venmo, and Zelle, and offers gift certificates for the introductory visit.
Condition Focus at the Practice #
The clinical scope is the full TCM outpatient continuum with named focus areas in pain management, sports medicine, women’s health, respiratory disorders, digestive disorders, and the side-effect management arm of oncology care that handles chemotherapy and radiation patients alongside their medical oncology team. The practitioner’s membership list runs across the Society for Acupuncture Research, the Tennessee Acupuncture Council, the American Society of Acupuncturists, and the Bellevue Chamber of Commerce, which marks the clinic as an active participant in the state and national acupuncture professional infrastructure beyond the licensure floor. Stress, anxiety, insomnia, infertility, and neurological and emotional patterns sit inside the same case mix.
https://nashvilletnacupunctureclinic.com/
3. Nashville Center for Alternative Therapy #
Nashville Center for Alternative Therapy was co-founded in 2014 by Yvonne Constancio, L.Ac., and Ramona Reid at 615 Main Street, Nashville, TN 37206, in East Nashville, with the main line at (615) 485-2105 and email contact at [email protected]. Yvonne Constancio holds a Master of Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine from AOMA Graduate School of Integrative Medicine in Austin and is NCCAOM certified and TN-licensed alongside Reiki Master and certified yoga teacher credentials, and she operates as the acupuncture and Chinese herbal medicine clinician inside a wider alternative-therapy office that runs massage, Reiki, and hypnosis services from the same address. The practice positions itself around whole-body health and integrates the TCM service line with the other modalities under a single intake.
The acupuncture menu runs on a per-session fee schedule that the office publishes openly: traditional acupuncture at one hundred five dollars for a sixty-minute session, trigger point dry needling at eighty-five dollars for a thirty-minute session, fertility acupuncture at one hundred thirty dollars for a ninety-minute initial visit, and cupping and facial cupping in the seventy-five to one hundred forty dollar range. Four-session package bundles are available for patients who want to lock in a treatment course at a per-visit discount, and combination massage-acupuncture sessions are scheduled when the case mix supports the pairing. The clinic does not list medical insurance contracting, so patients route through cash, FSA, HSA, or out-of-network claims on their own plan.
Fertility and Cosmetic Focus at the Office #
Fertility acupuncture is the named subspecialty inside the office, with the extended ninety-minute initial structure built for patients who want acupuncture support around natural conception, IUI cycles, and IVF transfer protocols where the literature on cycle-day-specific needling has the longest track record. Mei Zen Cosmetic Acupuncture, a trademarked facial protocol that uses fine filiform needles on the face and neck to support collagen and circulation patterns, sits inside the cosmetic line alongside the body acupuncture and cupping work. Electroacupuncture, acupressure, moxibustion, and Chinese bodywork round out the TCM toolkit that the practitioner offers under the same license.
http://www.mynashvillecenter.com/acupuncture
Reference Notes #
Tennessee Code Annotated Title 63 Chapter 6 Part 10 establishes the Tennessee Board of Acupuncture and sets the scope of practice, education, and examination floor for the Licensed Acupuncturist (L.Ac.) title in Tennessee, including the requirement that the candidate graduate from an Accreditation Commission for Acupuncture and Herbal Medicine accredited program and pass the National Certification Commission for Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine examination modules. NCCAOM Diplomate of Acupuncture (Dipl. Ac. NCCAOM) certification is the national board credential that follows the master’s degree and the four NCCAOM examination modules covering Foundations of Oriental Medicine, Acupuncture with Point Location, Biomedicine, and Clean Needle Technique. ACAHM accreditation, formerly the Accreditation Commission for Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine (ACAOM), is the U.S. Department of Education-recognized programmatic accreditor for master’s and doctoral acupuncture and Oriental medicine programs, including the typical 1,900-clock-hour master’s curriculum that the state boards reference. Clean Needle Technique certification through the Council of Colleges of Acupuncture and Herbal Medicine is the standalone safe-needle credential that confirms training on sterile single-use filiform needles, blood-borne pathogen precautions, and aseptic field setup, and it sits inside the NCCAOM examination sequence. The National Acupuncture Detoxification Association (NADA) five-point auricular protocol is the standardized ear-acupuncture pattern used in addiction recovery, post-traumatic stress, and behavioral health settings, with shen men, sympathetic, kidney, liver, and lung points as the fixed point set. AAMA, the American Academy of Medical Acupuncture, is the professional society for MD and DO physicians who add 300-hour medical acupuncture training to a primary medical license and is a separate pathway from the L.Ac. licensure track. The NIH Consensus Development Statement on Acupuncture from November 1997 set the contemporary biomedical framing for acupuncture in postoperative and chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting, postoperative dental pain, and adjunctive use in stroke rehabilitation, headache, menstrual cramps, tennis elbow, fibromyalgia, myofascial pain, osteoarthritis, low back pain, carpal tunnel syndrome, and asthma. The Society for Acupuncture Research is the U.S. research society that publishes the peer-reviewed evidence base on acupuncture mechanism, efficacy, and clinical practice patterns alongside the Journal of Acupuncture and Meridian Studies and Medical Acupuncture. The Tennessee Acupuncture Council is the state professional association for TN-licensed acupuncturists and is the state affiliate of the American Society of Acupuncturists.
Selection Methodology #
The three clinics above were narrowed from the wider Nashville acupuncture field using these gates: minimum tenure on Nashville-area patient care, verifiable Tennessee L.Ac. licensure under TCA Title 63, Chapter 6, Part 10 with NCCAOM Diplomate of Acupuncture certification on file, identifiable practice brand and verifiable street address on the clinic’s own website, and a published service scope that maps to patient need without scope-of-practice overreach. National rollups, mid-level-only practices without published physician supervision, and offices without verifiable street addresses were excluded.
Frequently Asked Questions #
Q: What is the cancellation and rescheduling policy?
A: Practices typically request 24 to 48 hours notice for cancellation, with a missed-appointment fee in some specialties or procedural settings. Confirm the policy in writing at intake, ask whether the fee is billed separately from insurance, and request the protocol for reaching the office same-day if a conflict arises.
Q: How does the practice handle medical records release and prior records?
A: Bring or send prior imaging, labs, and specialist notes before the first appointment so the clinician can review them. Most practices accept records by patient portal upload, fax, or secure email. For ongoing records release, the practice provides a HIPAA-compliant release form that authorizes records to a named recipient.
Q: Are any of the three clinics paid placements?
A: No. The three profiles above are editorial selections drawn from publicly verifiable sources. No firm sponsored placement.
Q: What labs, imaging, or diagnostic studies are typically completed on site versus referred out?
A: Some Nashville practices maintain in-office phlebotomy, basic point-of-care testing, and limited imaging; others refer all imaging and labs to a partner network. Ask which studies are performed on site, where the practice refers external studies, and whether the patient has a choice of imaging facility for insurance reasons.
Editorial Note #
This guide was published on 2026-05-11 and reflects research current as of that date. Verify licenses, phone numbers, and current business status before engaging any firm.