Action | Practice of dry needling |
Stage | NOIRA |
Comment Period | Ended on 12/30/2015 |
Acupuncturists receive 3-4 years of training, comprising 3000+ hours of education to learn how to safely and effectively perform acupuncture. It is preposterous to presume this same education can be condensed into 54 hours of training. Across the nation, the vast majority of serious adverse events from "acupuncture" are actually caused by poorly trained PTs and DCs performing dry needling. These adverse events include pneumothorax, broken needles retained subcutaneously, nerve damage, etc. 54 hours is not enough time to learn proper angle of insertion, needle depth, and manipulation techniques for the whole human body. This doesn't even begin to address learing appropriate point selection for an efficacious treatment. Dry needling is outside the scope of practice for PTs, and to expand that scope without appropriate education standards puts the public at risk.