Medical acupuncture and Trigger Point Dry needling

The rise in popularity of acupuncture has created a situation where many medical practitioners want to get into the act. Wisconsin state law defines that a person performing acupuncture in the state must meet minimun requirements in regards to years of training and national board certification from the NCCAOM in order to be certified to provide acupuncture in the state. There is an exception that allows Medical doctors to utilize acupuncture with little or no training. This is referred to as Medical acupuncture. Usually MD's who use Medical acupunture have gotten 100-300 hours of certified training. This is training in some basic techniques of acupuncture, with just enough knowledge of the medical systems behind the use of acupuncture to be able to confidently refer a patient to a more qualified and certified acupuncturist.

Physical therapists and others are widely using acupuncture techniques for various problems. Often these practitioners have a weekend of training in the simplest acupuncture techniques. To avoid violating state law in regards to acupuncture, they simply call the acupuncture by another name. This technique is commonly called "Dry needling". Many national organzations have stated that the current situation of allowing practitioners to do Dry needling with little to no training and without any certification standards is putting the public at risk. Please see the following link for more information

 

Myths about Dry Needling

Wisconsin Acupuncture Association (WISCA) Position statement on Dry Needling

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NCCAOM Position statement on Dry Needling

 

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