Important Acupuncture Safety Alert - important information - Support your licensed Acupuncturist

Physical Therapists given the right to practice Acupuncture without proper Training:

Recently, Physical Therapists and other practitioners have been seeking to incorporate what is being named "Dry Needling" into their patient treatment regimens. Dry Needling is, in practice, indistinguishable from acupuncture, yet is based on only 24 hours of training, with no certification in Clean Needle Technique being included in that training.

The Coalition for Safe Acupuncture Practice (CSAP) is deeply concerned about the potential patient injury that may result from treatments given by these briefly trained individuals... and also about the mispresentation of Dry Needling as equivalent to Acupuncture received by fully trained Illinois state Licensed Acupuncturists.

Dry Needling for Pain Management, as developed by Yun-Tao Ma, PhD., is a 24 classroom hour work-shop designed for Physical Therapists who wish to use Dry Needling in their patient practice. After completion of Dry Needling for Pain Management, Physical Therapists are encouraged to insert needles into their patients as part of their treatment protocols. Dry Needling is,by definition, the insertion of solid, acupuncture-type needles into body tissue. Dry Needling technique is acupuncture technique.

Training in Dry Needling, as provided to Physical Therapists, does not include the 6 hour Clean Needle Technique safety course and Clean Needle certification exam that all Acupuncture students must complete and pass. Training in Dry Needling, as provided to Physical Therapists, does not include the 150 hours of clinical observation plus 118 hours of needling technique classroom instruction required of all Acupuncture students prior to beginning their clinical internships. Training in Dry Needling, as provided to Physical Therapists, does not include the Illinois state mandated additional 660 hours of needling and acupuncture technique practice that all present Acupuncture students must complete while being supervised by Illinois State licensed acupuncturists at an ACAMO-accredited and Illinois state approved educational institution.

The Coalition for Safe Acupuncture Practice (CSAP) seeks to bring attention to the inadequacy of clinical, classroom and Clean Needle Technique instruction received by Physical Therapists who are using Dry Needling in their treatment practices.

Reprinted from the Coalition for Safe Acupuncture Practice.

So why has this happened and who is not doing their job? The Department of Financial and Professional Regulation is in charge of regulating professionals in the state of Illinois and most importantly safeguarding the public. The Department is allowing physical therapists to co-opt acupuncture by renaming it 'Dry Needling' and are failing to protect the public from poorly trained practitioners.

Coalition for Safe Acupuncture Practice (CSAP)

Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) inherits and develops the philosophies of Taoism and Confucianism and uses them to understand disease and health.

The guiding concept of TCM is a correspondence between humankind and nature. We, as an organism in nature, reflect the world in which we live, thus making a balance between humankind and nature necessary for well being. Practice of acupuncture with a knowledge of the concepts of Traditional Chinese Medicine is essential to preserving the efficacy, the safety, the harmony and ultimately the power of acupuncture to heal.

The Coalition for Safe Acupuncture Practice believes in a mindful practice of acupuncture, with the complete Traditional Chinese Medicine educational training that is necessary to achieve that practice.

In the United States, both the American Association of Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine (AAAOM) and the Council of Colleges of Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine have examined the practice of Dry Needling and found it to be consistent with and synonymous with the practice of acupuncture.

Therefore, the Coalition for Safe Acupuncture Practice advocates complete acupuncture training and state acupuncture licensure of all those practicing Dry Needling. We hope to welcome fellow health care practitioners to our Traditional Chinese Medicine discipline.

Contact Coalition for Safe Acupuncture Practice
email us at: CSAP@aardvarksfly.com
on facebook, visit our page: Coalition for Safe Acupuncture Practice
on the web, visit: http://aardvarksfly.com/CSAP.html