Dry Needling OKC
What is Dry Needling? 
Dry needling is a type of acupuncture in which certain points, referred to as motor, trigger, or tender (ashi) points are injected with acupuncture needles to cause the tight muscle fibers to contract and relax.
isn’t Dry Needling Different from acupuncture?
In short, no it isn’t. Acupuncture is defined as, “The insertion of filiform needles for a therapeutic effect.” Dry needling meets that criteria and therefore is acupuncture. Acupuncture is regulated in every state except Oklahoma, and is highly effective. To avoid attending 4 additional years of training in order to safely and legally perform acupuncture, some fields have selected to perform acupuncture under a different name. Thus the creation of the term dry needling to describe acupuncture. The World Health Organization and The American Medical Association agree that if it looks like a duck, and it quacks like a duck…it’s a duck. The AMA has gone so far as to state in a 2016 position paper that Acupuncture should not be performed by anyone other than physicians and Acupuncturists.
How do I find a well-trained Practitioner of dry needling?
Licensed Acupuncturists
Accredited or licensed Acupuncturists under-go 4 years of extensive training including an internship or residency with hands on clinical training of at least one year. In that training they are taught a system of points as well as trigger or motor point therapy aka dry needling. Be Well Acupuncture offers safe, effective, well-trained dry needling in OKC.
*Please note that there is no license for Acupuncturists in Oklahoma. Dr. Toni is trying to fix this and could your help! Please contact your state representatives and let them know that you support Acupuncture licensure!
Physical Therapists
There is no credential or independent oversight of dry needling for Physical Therapists. There is no training requirement in Oklahoma- absolutely none at all. This makes it very difficult for the public to ascertain the amount of training that the physical therapist has in dry needling. When asked, you will be reassured that they have the utmost training. In reality that training likely consists of a few hours over a weekend as they attended one of about a dozen weekend courses and then used their patients to train on afterwards. Physical Therapists are not trained to use needles and injuries such as collapsed lung and puncture of other internal organs as well as nerve injury or injury to the vascular system have occurred. In a recent position paper the AMA states that only Acupuncturists or Medical Doctors should perform dry needling as other healthcare providers performing dry needling pose a significant risk to public safety.
“To include dry needling into the scope of practice by physical therapists is unnecessarily to expose the public to serious and potentially hazardous risks. Because of this we feel a duty to inform legislators and regulating bodies about the inherent danger to the public of this practice.
Therefore, the AAMA strongly believes that, for the health and safety of the public, this procedure should be performed only by practitioners with extensive training and familiarity with routine use of needles in their practice and who are duly licensed to perform these procedures, such as licensed medical physicians or licensed acupuncturists. In our experience and medical opinion, it is inadvisable legally to expand the scope of physical therapists to include dry needling as part of their practice.” -American Medical Association
Be Well offers safe dry needling in OKC!
Simply click here to schedule online!
