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 Proposed
Comment Period Ended on 2/24/2017
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2/23/17  11:50 pm
Commenter: Prajna Choudhury

Dry needling is acupuncture, without the training key to acupuncture’s safety and effectiveness.
 

Dry needling is simply another name for acupuncture as it has been practiced for over 2,000 years. Dry needling training is entirely inadequate to protect public safety and consumers. Most dry needling courses involve only one or two weekends of training and does not include any of the supervised clinical training that has been critical to providing the real-world experience that has been key to acupuncture’s strong reputation for safety and effectiveness. In comparison, acupuncturists in Virginia are required to have at least 1,365 hours of acupuncture-specific training including 705 hours of acupuncture-specific didactic material and 660 hours of supervised clinical training. Even medical doctors with extensive training in the use of invasive medical devices, such as acupuncture needles, need to have 300 hours of training in acupuncture (including 100 hours of clinical training) to satisfy the minimal standards for certification from the American Board of Medical Acupuncture (ABMA).

CommentID: 57902