I write to strongly support passing legislation to allow certified athletic trainers (ATCs) to perform therapeutic dry needling.  ATCs possess the essential anatomic and physiologic knowledge base to be able to reliably and safely perform dry needling which has become a mainstream therapeutic intervention for a myriad of soft tissue injuries.  I am the director of Sports Medicine at UVA and we utilize dry needling performed by our training PT's with great success.  With the requisite training, I firmly believe that my ATC staff could perform dry needling skillfully and with great value to our patient population.  Please support its use by ATCs.