Dear Board members: 

My name is Natan Bar-Shimon, I am a licensed Acupuncturist in the state of Iowa and a doctor of Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine.

Acupuncturists in the United States are trained with over 2000 hours in Acupuncture schools. They are the experts on Acupuncture in the U.S.. They all agree that Dry Needling is Acupuncture.

Physical Therapists are trained about 25-50 hours on Acupuncture/ Dry Needling and they claim that Dry Needling is different than Acupuncture.

Dry Needling is preformed with Acupuncture needles, at Acupuncture points using Acupuncture techniques ( Albeit, without paying attention to Energy Meridians) . To call it anything other than Acupuncture is Misleading.

The Physical Therapy profession is using semantics to skirt the law. It is unprofessional and unethical.

The use of Acupuncture with Minimal training is unsafe for the public. If Physical Therapists want to pursue this wonderful medicine they should get properly trained in a nationally recognized and accredited institution.

I ask that you protect the public and declare that Dry Needling is not with in the scope of practice of Physical Therapists. 

Thank you

Natan Bar-Shimon L.Ac. DAOM