Action | Practice of dry needling |
Stage | Proposed |
Comment Period | Ended on 7/26/2019 |
I am in favor of PTs dry needling as one of the many effective manual therapy or instrument assisted manual therapy interventions. I am not entirely opposed to additional educational requirements if necessary, but trigger point dry needling does not treat neuro-musculoskeletal pathologies according to acupuncture principles or methodology. Despite using similar tools to implement the intervention, I believe intention, methodology, and principles guiding practice can dictate scope of practice differences between licensed acupuncturists and PTs.
As long as PTs are providing a thorough explanation to the possible patient or client that the procedure they are performing is not acupuncture, there should be no issue. There are similar issues PTs have with Chiropractors providing physical therapy and/or exercises to patients without prior exercise physiology/mechanics or kinesiology education. Educating your client is absolutely essential and key to providing excellent care.