I have been in practice in Wisconsin for almost 17 years. Since then, I have seen the rise of acupuncturists across the state. It has been wonderful to see our profession grow and expand into areas such as small towns, hospitals and even universities and the military. It shows the profession doing positive things for the profession and the community. The last 5+ years has seen a rise in the use of a treatment called “dry needling” from physical therapists. I will be honest; I see absolutely zero difference between so called dry needling and acupuncture. I have discussed this with physical therapists in the community and even they realize that there is no difference other than the name. I find it interesting that I had to learn over 2,300 hours of schooling (including 1,600 hours of acupuncture alone) just to do what I do for a living. Yet, the training for dry needling is as weak as this (according to this article) for PT’s. I often ask patients that ask me about dry needling a question: If I offer to do an ancient Chinese therapy where I take a very sharp instrument and use it to open up your skin; I locate a bundle of tissue that transmits sensation from the spine and sever it; would you do it? What if I told you I trained for a whole 45 hours on this technique? Don’t worry! Its not a nerve ablation, that’s a medical procedure. We call it a “meridian correction”. In the end, just because you call it something else, doesn’t make it something else. If it looks like a duck, walks like a duck, & and quacks like a duck, it’s probably a duck! I hope Wisconsin comes to its senses as well and corrects our state laws and realizes that even if a PT doesn’t hurt someone in Wisconsin with dry needling, that is not a reason to allow the practice of this highly specialized system of medicine from practitioners who have not been trained in it – regardless of what they call it.
http://www.denverpost.com/2017/04/05/acupuncturists-sue-board/