Dry Needling in Orthopedic Physical Therapy Practice

INTRODUCTION Orthopedic physical therapists employ a wide range of intervention strategies to reduce patients’ pain and improve function. From time to time, new treatment approaches are being introduced to the field of physical therapy. The arrival of manual therapy in the United States is a good example. Although for several decades, manual physical therapy was already an essential part of the scope of orthopedic physical therapy practice in Europe,New Zealand and Australia,manual therapy did not make its debut in the United States until the 1960s. Initially many US state boards of physical therapy opposed the use of manual therapy. In spite of the early resistance, manual physical therapy has become a mainstream treatment approach. Manual therapy techniques are now taught in academic programs and continuing education courses. During the past few years, physical therapists,the APTA,and the AAOMPT even have had to defend the right to practice manual therapy especially when challenged by the chiropractic community! A similar development is in progress with the relatively new technique of dry needling. While some physical therapy state boards have already decided that dry needling falls within the scope of physical therapy practice,others are still more hesitant. The goal of this paper is to introduce the American orthopedic physical therapy community to the technique of dry needling.