Athletic trainers have the education and training to dry needle. Athletic trainers have been dry needling for years actually (depending on state), and some of us can do IVs others were allowed to do vaccine injections hiring COVID-19. With that being said, taking the skills we have and have successfully been doing (depending on state), and what we’ve trained for a students, isn’t a logical move. Half the comments from the acupuncturist community say were personal trainers or non licensed health care providers, but I know the board of medicine knows otherwise. We are trained and certified health care providers with the knowledge and skills to dry needle. With the proper training (certification) we have the ability to help out patients and continue to do so. 

lastly, acupuncturist brought some stats saying out of XYZ Million people they treated they had X amount of cases. However none of those stats opposing PTs and ATCs to dry needle mention how many millions of people we have helped with no to few/ rare incident rates. With that being said, they’re risks to dry needling, hence why taking the time to properly perform patient education and consent is so important too. We aren’t just randomly poking a patient with a needle. We are going for trigger points, or certain muscle groups within the area, as well as being aware of the anatomy around the area, so choosing the proper needle length and direction and placement. We know the risks of dry needling, we also have the education and skill to avoid any incident's and if we believe further help is needed we refer to an acupuncturist or someone else. This amendment should be supported by the board of medicine, we have been in school for 6+ years, we have  the knowledge and skill base to learn dry needling and perform this skill proficiently. Thank you for you’re time.

- ATC