Action | Practice of dry needling |
Stage | Proposed |
Comment Period | Ended on 2/24/2017 |
Physical therapy is training for musculoskeletal function. This is different than the internally focused training given to acupuncturists and procedural specialties like surgery or MD procedural fellowships. As an MD, I had anatomy and some surgical rotations, but would not presume this prepares me to perform procedures from other specialties. Invasive procedures (including dry needling) can puncture internal areas that are not the focus/scope of musculoskeletal medicine (PT). Since a specialty for this already exists, PT should either add full acupuncture training or refer patient to acupuncturist. No abbreviated training for out-of-scope practices!