Taking on Dry Needling

Please help stop inadequately trained health care practitioners from performing acupuncture (by renaming it as "dry needling" they avoid acupuncture requirements for training, clinical supervision, certification testing and licensure). Serious injuries have occurred in the US and Canada, including numerous reports of punctured lungs, such as the  Olympic athletes in Colorado and Canada. 

The North Carolina Acupuncture Licensing Board (NCALB) filed a lawsuit against the North Carolina Board of Physical Therapy Examiners (PT Board) to have the court decide whether “dry needling” is acupuncture.  Most physical therapists and other insufficiently trained practitioners  begin inserting acupuncture needles into patients after only a two or three-day (12-27 hours) optional continuing education course (see example course below),  while Licensed Acupuncturists are required by law to  complete a minimum of a three year Masters or Doctoral degree program of which nearly 2000 hours are specifically in acupuncture needling education and supervised clinical  training. 

Physical therapists think that a simple weekend of education – without further supervised, clinical training * – is sufficient to perform highly-invasive techniques that acupuncturists study years to learn. This fallacy erodes the integrity and safe practice of acupuncture established over thousands of years and which are the national and international standards for safety.  It is important that everyone performing acupuncture have appropriate education, significant supervised clinical training, certification of training, and proper licensure.

Renaming acupuncture as “dry needling”, “trigger point therapy,” or “intramuscular stimulation therapy” confuses the general public and does not keep them from harm.   By whatever name, the truth is that these techniques are acupuncture and have been used for thousands of years by those with substantial training.

Dear Acupuncturists and Friends of Acupuncture, please help prevent more injuries by supporting the legal fight against “dry needling” being performed by inadequately trained physical therapists and others. Donate NOW (all proceeds go directly to NCALB Trust Fund to cover legal costs) and please encourage others to do the same. Let's stop the fight HERE so we can avoid multiple battles (and injuries) across the nation.

Thank you!
(Note: This is an individual campaign, not started by any organization or parties involved in the lawsuits,  that was created to lend support to NC to defray costs.)

*The national standard for supervised clinical training to perform acupuncture safely is 810 hours.

For more complete information, please click on any of the links below:

History of North Carolina Acupuncture Licensing Board (NCALB) and Dry Needling Suit -
http://www.daoisthealingarts.com/Images/HowtoHelp.pdf


American Association of Medical Acupuncturists - MDs position statement:
http://www.nccaom.org/aama-policy-on-dry-needling


NCALB suit against the Physical Therapy Board:
http://www.acupuncturetoday.com/pdf_files/archives/ncalb_complaint.pdf


Physical Therapist lawsuit against NCALB and others:
http://files.ctctcdn.com/44bfa6d1401/625747e1-e54c-453e-9112-51fdaee22494.pdf


Questions and Answers Taking On  Dry Needling

http://www.daoisthealingarts.com/Images/DryNeedlingFAQ.pdf

http://daoisthealingarts.com/News.html

http://fishkincenter.com/dryneedlinginstitute/events/rockville-12-hour-course-january-23-24-2016-2/