I want to make it clear that I am not opposed to the practice of DN itself but rather to the practice of any needling by under-trained therapists.

As a 15-year practitioner of acupuncture and chinese medicine, and one who specializes in the treatment of orthopedic conditions, I am deeply concerned about the way "dry needling" has been adopted by PTs nationwide. It is an invasive technique and one that requires not only anatomical knowledge (which PTs readily possess) but also fine motor skill, finesse, an understanding of how each muscle fits into a greater system, and most of all an understanding of the underlying mechanisms at play when one punctures a body with a needle.

My primary concern is for patient safety. With 27, or in VA, 54 hours of training, PTs (who have basically made up their own training courses) are training other PTs to use this invasive procedure. That for-profit corporations are making up courses and handing out certificates without any regulation or oversight is a problem for obvious reasons. 

Acupuncturists have hundreds of hours of training in needle technique and safety alone. Even MDs practicing medical acupuncture have 300 hours of training in needle technique and theory (and have come out against the practice of dry needling by PTs in a recent statement by the American Academy of Medical Acupuncture). 

To complicate things further, some DN companies are now utilizing specific acupuncture points as part of their training with no understanding whatsoever of the greater system they are effecting.

Acupuncture, of course, is a centuries-old practice and the refinement that has occurred in these literal thousands of years is remarkable, and also highly specific. We understand why needles work within the context of this history. Without it, as in dry needling, we can easily get muscles to release but the disregard for the rest of the human body can lead to other problems. I know this is hard to understand if one doesn't have the knowledge of Chinese medical theory, which is one of the reasons that this particular risk of dry needling is so difficult to grasp.

As an acupuncturist with extensive orthopedic training, I have been using trigger points in my work for many years, albeit with a gentler yet equally effective technique and also in the context of the greater system as mentioned above. What PTs are doing is not new; it is merely a rudimentary and inferior form of what acupuncturists are highly trained to do. 

By now you've seen the video in which a PT punctures a lung by dry needling. It is astonishing to me that the PT in the video didn't know how dangerous his needle technique was! And that was an instructor!

I even had a patient in my office recently who came to me after her PT "attempted acupuncture" and the patient found it incredibly painful, ineffective and was left with considerable bruising and discomfort. This PT was trained by Kineticore and is unlawfully practicing acupuncture, ignoring last year's WA court injunction against dry needling. 

The APTA is a strong and influential organization with a clear "Vision 2020" in which they intend to be the gatekeepers for all musculoskeletal-related illness. They as well as anyone can see how effective acupuncture is in treating these conditions and I don't think it's a coincidence that the profession is attempting to co-opt these treatments. What is surprising though is the cavalier attitude with which PTs are adding an invasive procedure to their scope without going through the proper channels, i.e. sufficient training in safety, technique and supervision.

Dry needling is acupuncture. Acupuncture is much more than dry needling. Leave the needling to the experts or become an expert oneself. There is plenty of room for more of us to practice acupuncture!

In closing, let's keep in mind the Dunning-Kruger effect: "If you're incompetent, you can’t know you’re incompetent.…The skills you need to produce a right answer are exactly the skills you need to recognize what a right answer is." --David Dunning

Thank you very much for your time and consideration.