Virginia Regulatory Town Hall
Agency
Department of Health Professions
 
Board
Board of Physical Therapy
 
chapter
Regulations Governing the Practice of Physical Therapy [18 VAC 112 ‑ 20]
Action Practice of dry needling
Stage NOIRA
Comment Period Ended on 12/30/2015
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12/28/15  9:54 pm
Commenter: Jubal J Bewick MSAOM EAMP

Opposition to Dry Needling
 

 

Hello, currently within both the state of Virginia and nationally the topic of whether physical therapists and in some cases chiropractors are allowed to do dry needling has been a key topic within medical legislature. The opposition I would like to present today is not in effect that physical therapists do not have the requisite anatomical or in effect didactic course knowledge but lack the necessary clinical training hours within the methodology of dry needling to ensure safety of patient care. The potential chance for patient harm and lateral discrimination towards acupuncture and the perceived usage of acupuncture by the public is harmed by the use of dry needling by physical therapists that don't have the necessary clinical training In the method. The he second point is that dry needling is arguably a subtype of acupuncture and thus should follow the same regulatory process that an acupuncturists has to follow which demands hundreds of hours of clinical training which ranges from school to school but never falls under 600 hours of clinical training. The argument that having enough didactic training is enough reason to create a new modality that has a level of inherent risk to the public without setting proper clinical training and testing hours is a danger to the public. Thank you for time. 

 

 

CommentID: 48182