My understanding is that Phyical Therapists (PTs) are not required to report adverse events such as a  pnuemothorax.

Other hand NCCAOM certified Acupuncturist are required by the NCCAOM code of ethics to report these types of events. Accoring to the article " Pneumothorax Secondary to Acupuncture Therapy"   by Ryan J. Chauffe, BS &  Ann L. Duskin, BS, BA in South Med J. 2006;99(11):1297-1299. As of 2006, in 20 years there have report 9 cases of pnuemothorax.  Currently, best available data are from prospective observational studies, e.g., a large study from Germany published by Witt and colleagues in 2013 that included 2.2 million acupuncture sessions in 229,230 patients. The overall incidence of acupuncture-related adverse events was 8.6% among which 2.2% of the patients required medical treatment. The vast majority of adverse events were due to minor bleeding/haematomas (6.1%), pain (1.7%) or vegetative symptoms such as vertigo, nausea etc. (0.7%). Thirty-five patients suffered from breathing difficulties after acupuncture treatment but only two cases of pneumothorax were reported.

I have been told of serveral cases of pnuemonthorax caused by PT Dry Needling (DN), one of which was in Virginia, no deciplinary action was taken againist  PT in Virginia.  I am assuming that the responsible professionial PTs that  are not also NCCAOM certified acupuncturist that I know are not choosing to do DN in part to due to the risk & poor training. 

I have not seen the data on PT ND adverve events but it stands to reason due to the limited ND course of 54 hr that the few PTs doing  DN Acupuncture,  will probably have  a higher incidents advise events including pnuemothorax; but since the PTs are not required to report these types of events, the data on this is not easily obtained.         

I do hope the state of Virginia chooses safty over politics.