Dry Needling versus Acupuncture: The Ongoing Debate

Abstract

Although Western medical acupuncture (WMA) is commonly practised in the UK, a particular approach called dry needling (DN) is becoming increasingly popular in other countries. The legitimacy of the use of DN by conventional non-physician healthcare professionals is questioned by acupuncturists. This article describes the ongoing debate over the practice of DN between physical therapists and acupuncturists, with a particular emphasis on the USA. DN and acupuncture share many similarities but may differ in certain aspects. Currently, little information is available from the literature regarding the relationship between the two needling techniques. Through reviewing their origins, theory, and practice, we found that DN and acupuncture overlap in terms of needling technique with solid filiform needles as well as some fundamental theories. Both WMA and DN are based on modern biomedical understandings of the human body, although DN arguably represents only one subcategory of WMA. The increasing volume of research into needling therapy explains its growing popularity in the musculoskeletal field including sports medicine. To resolve the debate over DN practice, we call for the establishment of a regulatory body to accredit DN courses and a formal, comprehensive educational component and training for healthcare professionals who are not physicians or acupuncturists. Because of the close relationship between DN and acupuncture, collaboration rather than dispute between acupuncturists and other healthcare professionals should be encouraged with respect to education, research, and practice for the benefit of patients with musculoskeletal conditions who require needling therapy.

Is dry needling effective for low back pain?

“…Especially, for the treatment of musculskeletal pain, DN and acupuncture overlapped greatly in their origin, techniques and theories. [ 38 , 39 ] Previous studies [ 40 , 41 ] also found that MTrPs were significantly correlated to meridian points and Ah-shi points. Although this therapy had roots in traditional acupuncture, current mainstream view still tended to regard DN as an adaption of traditional acupuncture which provided mechanistic underpinnings from contemporary scientific-based medicine including anatomy, physiology, and pathology.…”

Dry Needling is Acupuncture

“…Academically, we agree with the recent Education and Practice paper by Zhou et al, 1 which states that, for the treatment of musculoskeletal disorders, dry needling and acupuncture overlap greatly in their origin, techniques and theories, and dry needling is one subcategory of Western medical acupuncture, and is thus acupuncture. As current training and clinical practice of acupuncturists involve both Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) and Western medicine, at least in China, where acupuncture originated, we have the following comments.…”

Dry needling for headaches presenting active trigger points

“…The American Physical Therapy Association (APTA) defined DN as a 'skilled intervention using a thin filiform needle to penetrate the skin and stimulate trigger points (TrPs), muscles, and connective tissue for the treatment of musculoskeletal disorders' [5]. Although acupuncture and DN share many similarities [6], they differ in many aspects, particularly the fact that DN inserts the needle into the muscle and not in standardized acupuncture points [7].…”