Virginia Regulatory Town Hall
Agency
Department of Health Professions
 
Board
Board of Medicine
 
chapter
Regulations Governing the Licensure of Athletic Trainers [18 VAC 85 ‑ 120]
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5/7/25  11:11 pm
Commenter: Dr Juliann Lyons

Opposed to ATC dry needle
 

To whom it may concern
I am opposed to the idea of athletic trainers performing the action of inserting needles into athletes, also called dry needling. Athletic trainers are not given the in-depth knowledge of anatomy and Neuro anatomy that is Necessary to understand to form any kind of invasive procedure such as inserting, any kind of needle, acupuncture, needle, or hypodermic needle into a person in this case, athletes and usually of college age level. This would be considered a very unsafe and potentially hazardous and dangerous procedure for an athletic trainer to conduct.  Having had many courses in athletic training and studied it prior to my degree in both physical therapy and in traditional Chinese medicine as an acupuncturist, I can certainly speak of the experience and knowledge of knowing that this kind of insertion of needles also called dry needling is not appropriate for an athletic trainer to perform 

 

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