Resources

DRY NEEDLING

What is Dry Needling?

• Technically, any inserting of a needle that doesn’t inject something is considered dry. Thus, all of acupuncture is considered dry needling. However the term has been coopted by western practitioners to mean trigger point needling, intramuscular needling (as opposed to superficial skin-only insertions or “energetic” medicine), the use of electrical stimulation attached to the needles (what we refer to as electroacupuncture), and is generally limited to a local area treatment only. Acupuncturists sometimes call this “ashi” (“yes! That’s the spot!”) or orthopedic acupuncture.
• The term is used to attempt to differentiate itself as a physical, evidence-based technique to alleviate tight muscles and pain from the energetic basis of channel theory and eastern medicine paradigms.
• These techniques are not new. They are foundational methods used by acupuncturists and any attempt to divorce them from Eastern medicine practices is disingenuous. These are tools which work and many western practitioners, in the same vein as taking the main constituent from an herb, want to take just the one practice from the medicine. And just like when we take the main constituent out of an herb, we lose the synergistic effects which make the herb safer and moderate the medicine. So too does removing the most invasive and aggressive form of needling from the rest of the medicine make it less safe. Injuries arise when these techniques are applied to the wrong patient (one too weak or deficient) or without grounding them and supporting the entire underlying system. A hammer is not always the right solution to a stuck screw.

What is acupuncture??

• Acupuncture is one of several techniques that make up the system of care provided by those trained in traditional medicine from China and other Asian countries. Acupuncture may refer to this whole system approach to health care or define the technique of acupuncture treatment. Most frequently we think of acupuncture as the penetration of thin needles into the body at acupuncture points to effect a change. Acupuncture is used to restore or maintain health. (https://www.va.gov/WHOLEHEALTH/professional-resources/Acupuncture.asp)

Who can practice Dry Needling?

• In Washington state, acupuncturists, medical doctors, osteopathic doctors, naturopaths (self determined by their DOH Board), Nurse practitioners (ARNP) who have done the 300 hour medical acupuncture course, physical therapists who have completed the 325 hour dry needling certification (rules and administration still being determined as of 9/2023).

Who can practice Acupuncture?

• MD, DO, Acupuncturists, ARNP with the 300 hour medical acupuncture program.

How is Dry Needling different from Acupuncture?

• Short answer: It is a subset of acupuncture; it is not different.
• If your argument is that “dry needling opens stuck fibers and I don’t move qi” or some similar biomedical definition, I can tell that you don’t know what qi is, that you don’t understand how Eastern medicine paradigms work, and that you don’t want to know. This is disrespectful and self-serving. Please reach out and we can discuss why you should know what you’re doing and where it comes from.