No matter what anybody thinks about if dry needling is or is not a form of acupuncture and even among those who think it is OK for PT regulatory Boards to rule that dry needling is within a PT’s scope of practice, EVERYONE believes PTs need additional training before they start sticking their patients with needles. There has to be some kind of requirement for this specialized training that has never been part of traditional training for PTs.  Right? Yet the Virginia Board of Physical Therapy is apparently leaving it up to PT’s to decide for themselves if they have enough training instead of doing their job to protect the public and take steps to insure Virginia PTs have adequate training in dry needling.  

What could they have done?

1.They could have required PT’s to have specified minimum training from certified sources in specific areas as identified by the Federation of State Boards of Physical Therapy in their “Analysis of Competencies for Dry Needling by Physical Therapists.”  

2.They could have established some sort of certification examination to assure people who take such training actually learned the subjects.

3.They could have required PTs to have malpractice insurance for dry needling as many PT don’t have such insurance. Do you hear that, referring M.D.s? You will be on the hook if the PT you refer to for dry needling gets sued with no malpractice insurance.

4.They could have established guidelines to assure PT’s are not committing insurance fraud in their billing especially considering there are no ICD billing codes for “dry needling”.

5. They could have spelled-out the types of conditions PTs would be allowed to treat with dry needling. Some PTs’ are doing face lifts and treating internal conditions with “dry needling” just like acupuncturists are trained to do, completely blurring the line between what they claim makes dry needling different from acupuncture.

6.They could have addressed the issue of if it is legal for PTs to buy and use acupuncture needles especially considering the FDA approval allowing the sale of acupuncture needles clearly states: “Federal law restricts this device (acupuncture needles) to sale by or on the order of qualified practitioners of acupuncture as determined by the states.”  Being that it took the acupuncture profession several years to win approval from the FDA to legally use acupuncture needles as a safe and effective medical device, the PT profession should go through the same years-long approval process if dry needling is not acupuncture as they claim.

Those are the types of steps responsible regulatory State Boards take to insure public safety. The Virginia Board of Physical Therapy seems to be taking none of these steps.

The fox has sized-up the chicken coop and decided additional protections are not needed.