The Ohio Association of Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine is opposed to the unlicensed and dangerous practice of dry needling by physical therapists and other health care practitioners.  This is a summary of some of our concerns about dry needling:

1. Dry needling is acupuncture. Renaming it with a different term does not change its fundamental characterists.  It has been an integral part of acupuncture practice for over 2000 years and was first recorded during the Early Han Dynasty (220BC-0) in the Nei Jing Ling Shu.
2. Physical therapists argue that dry needling is different from acupuncture because they use medical principles in their treatments while acupuncturists do not.  This disregards the extensive biomedical training of acupuncturists and extensive peer reviewed research that supports acupuncture practice, which dry needling trainings and manuals often reference.
3. There are risks with the practice of dry needling.  An analysis of risks for dry needling and acupuncture was compiled in an article titled Physiotherapy Alberta FAQ Dry Needling Adverse Events.  It found that the risks of dry needling when performed by physical therapists was roughly twice as high as acupuncture.
4. Acupuncturists have training and credentialing that limits those risks to our patients but physical therapists have no objective standards for training and credentialing. Instead, dry needling seminars are primarily taught by for profit companies with no oversight or national accreditation.
5. Many physical therapists learn to do dry needling in a weekend course with as little as 12 hours of training that includes minimal clinical practice.
6. Physical therapists are not certified in Clean Needle Technique and the trainings for dry needling do not teach its principles consistently.
7. The American Medical Association ruled that dry needling has risks. And, "[t]hat AMA policy on the practice of dry needling by physical therapists and other non-physician groups include, at a minimum, the benchmarking of training standards to already existing standards of training, certification, and continuing education that exist for the practice of acupuncture."
8. Some malpractice insurers will not cover physical therapists who do dry needling.

Patient safety should not be compromised.  Until reasonable standards for training, credentialing and licensing are in place, physical therapists who want to practice "dry needling" should go to acupuncture school and learn to do this procedure safely.

Sincerely,

Jared West

President OAAOM