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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12/22/15  10:52 pm
Commenter: Yuwen Cen

Hasty training produce dangerous endeavor
 

I oppose to the intended  regulation of the guidance on dry needling. Dry needling was introduced by Dr Janet G.Travell in contemporary time, of which the mechanism and technique are similar with some kinds of  acupuncture in musculoskeletal disease.  In the ancient time, acupuncture used to be a dangerous medical practice, since they use thicker needle and insert deeper in the tissue. The effective acupuncture points and meridians are the deposit of thousands years of experience from the practitioner. In the text of acupuncture, location, depth and direction of inserting are elaborated in detail in order to improve the safety of practice. Acupuncture is a skill job, practicing repeatly makes perfect. Altogether, it takes an acupuncturist at least four years and thousands of hours to be qualilfied to practice. Nowadays, acupuncture is getting more and more popular because it becomes one of the safest modality in the patients impression. Not that it is born with safety, it is due to the systemic training in the education to decrease the adverse events. It takes time and no short cut. It is inappropriate to emphasize on the difference between acupuncture and dry needling. There is potential threat to the patient’s safety coming with the hasty training of dry needling, so the training time should be re-evaluate. Further consultation from various fields of medical personnels should be considered.       

CommentID: 46737