Is Dry Needling In Your Scope of Practice?

Dry Needling (Intramuscular Manual Therapy in the US) is accepted internationally as a tool of physical therapy.

Several states have accepted TDN into the Scope of Practice for Physical Therapists. For the remaining states, clinicians throughout the country are working with their state boards to gain acceptance of this technique.

Massachusetts has a unique tool to determine whether any treatment or therapy is within your scope of practice as a physical therapist.  Click here to check it out.

Your States TDN Status

To find out if TDN is pending or has been accepted for a particular state, please use the menu to the right and click on the state of interest. If your state is not listed to the right it is likely that your state has not made a determination one way or another. 

Currently the only states that have made a ruling against TDN acceptance into the scope of practice for physical therapists are: California, Nevada, Tennessee, Hawaii and Florida have ruled against therapists puncturing the skin.

We recommend contacting your PT Board to voice your interest in providing this treatment technique.  If you are interested in pursuing your states acceptance of TDN please contact us as we may be able to assist you in doing so.

The Federation of State Boards has put out a position paper to also help determine whether IMT/TDN is allowed in your state.  Based on this paper, only six states do not allow PT's to do this technique.  Remember, you are always responsible for the treatment you perform on your patients and more importantly the training you have to allow you to perform those treatments safely.

 Here is the link to the article.  Intramuscular Position Paper by Federation of State Boards.