The Dry Needlers

During my appointments, Paula has talked to me about several subjects, including details about the acupuncture profession in general. Looking back on some of these chats made me want to explore a few of these topics in greater detail.

Image from doctorgetwell.org

One of the things Paula has mentioned more than once was the threat the acupuncture industry faced from what she called “dry needlers.” Apparently, dry needling is a practice some physical therapist and chiropractors use that is similar to acupuncture, but typically has far less training and expertise. By taking only a class or two over a few days, a chiropractor or physical therapist can start offering dry needling and many may advertise it as acupuncture since it is a far more recognizable name. She said her training consisted of 4,000 hours of classes and practice while most dry needlers consider themselves trained over a weekend. As she explained, she wouldn't attempt to take a weekend course on physical therapy and start taking physical therapy patients, so why would it be OK the other way around?

According to Paula, these practitioners often cause injury or other harm to patients and no only give true acupuncturists a bad name, but also cause government agencies to crack down on the practice by increasing regulations.

I was curious, so I did some quick internet searches to see if I could get a feeling of how other practitioners felt about the practice. Looking at sites from WISCA and a funny (but mocking) video, I could see that other acupuncturists share Paula's disdain for dry needling. What I was even more surprised to find was a physical therapy education company (www.kinetacore.com) offering a three day "level one" training for dry needling, claiming that "Successful completion of the Level One Dry Needling course will provide you with skills and knowledge to begin utilizing the treatment immediately" -- pretty much confirming exactly what Paula had told me.