Is Dry Needling a Safe Treatment for Pain?

Dry needling is a physical therapy treatment that uses acupuncture needles to treat pain. This is not a generally accepted standard medical practice in the United States. There are many people who have suffered severe injury after dry needling.

A Canadian health organization reported on a study of 7,629 dry needling treatments performed by physiotherapists and found 1,463 adverse events were reported (19.18%). Pneumothorax-punctured lung was the most common type of serious adverse event.

Real people with real injuries from dry needling

Torin Yater Wallace is an Olympic free skier and extreme sports enthusiast. An article in Quartz.com relates the story of what happened when a physical therapist punctured his lung while performing dry needling just before the 2014 winter Olympics; the therapist was using dry needling to treat Wallace’s shoulder pain when one of the needles punctured and collapsed his lung. The article mentions the startling fact that Acupuncturists must complete a three-year graduate training program, often more than 1000 hours, while a physical therapist can perform dry needling treatments after a weekend training program.

According to a story in the National Post, a would-be Olympian from Canada, Kim Ribble-Orr, sought treatment from a massage therapist for severe headaches after a car crash, but the therapist decided to use dry needling therapy and pierced Ribble-Orr’s left lung. The therapist received a one-year disciplinary suspension. The Post quoted Ribble-Orr about her collapsed lung injury, “It just ruined my life, it just changed it drastically.”

There is an article about a rare case of deep infection as a complication of dry needling treatment following a posterior spinal fusion for adolescent idiopathic scoliosis published in the news journal of a dry needling training organization. The case study is about a 15-year-old girl who had received dry needling therapy after back surgery for scoliosis when she developed a deep spinal infection. The patient developed a periscapular abscess requiring an additional surgery. She was given an 8-week course of antibiotics, and two years later she remained infection free.

Dry needling treatment is banned in six states, but it is growing in popularity because of how big and influential the physical therapy industry is in the United States. If physical therapists are going to continue to use the dry needling technique, they will have to improve their training and skill or face the legal consequences when patients are hurt.

Anyone who has suffered a serious injury, whether from dry needling treatment or any other type of medical procedure, can get assistance from a South Carolina medical malpractice attorney from the injury law firm of McGowan, Hood, Felder & Phillips, LLC. We are ready to fight for you. Contact us or call us today at 803-327-7800 for a free case review. Let us level the playing field on your behalf.