(Newswire.net — April 1, 2015) St Petersburg, Florida — Acupuncture physician Justin Mandel, DOM AP has recently added dry needling expert witness services to his existing acupuncture expert witness services. Dry needling technique offered by physical therapists is increasingly becoming controversial due to the incredibly limited amount of required continuing education hours needed for certification.
The term “dry needling” is used by physical therapists and massage therapists to specfically describe acupuncture therapy via the use of an entirely different terminology. The specific type of needles utilized for dry needling procedures are acupuncture needles, over 90% of trigger points used by dry needleers are actually acupuncture points, and the muscle meridians that are needled into by dry needlers have been used by acupuncture physicians for thousands of years.
As a result of dry needling being identical to acupuncture in every respect it has increasingly being made illegal by various states. Most recently both North Carolina and Washington state has ruled against physical therapists being allowed to treat patients with dry needling.
The most high profile dry needling malpractice incident to date that has transpired happened to Canadian Olympic athlete Kim Ribble-Orr, who required hospitalization and a significant number of stiches due to dry needling by a massage therapist. Her massage therapist after that incident was ultimately suspended from the ability to practice for a full year. In this incident he naively told her that the pain she experienced from his treatment was the result of a “muscle spasm”. This particular case perfectly showcases what happens when an inept healthcare practitioner practices dry needling with a lack of necessary training which in this high profile case only amounted to “five three-day weekends, plus 174 hours of “self-directed home study.”
Justin Mandel, DOM AP had this to say about expanding the type of expert witness services that he offers, “as more and more physical therapists and other healthcare practitioners continue to perform dry needling across the United States there will be a rise in dry needling malpractice lawsuits. Even though physical therapists for example are thoroughly trained and have a deep background in human anatomy, they are not however specifically educated or trained on the use of using acupuncture needles to treat patients. As a result malpractice will naturally happen as a result of embarrassingly low standards required for practice and their victims should be fully reimbursed for pain and suffering plus all costs associated with any hospital visit and loss of income.
In the case of physical therapists who typically perform dry needling procedures, they get extremely minimal training to utilize acupuncture treatment in their practices. Alternatively, for example acupuncturists have thousands of hours of training and New York State for instance requires that an acupuncturist treats a minimum of 250 patient in order to get licensed. Dry needlers on the other hand are not required by law to treat a minimum amount of patients, which can help prove their ability to safely perform dry needling procedures.
It might be deceiving that acupuncture needles of such a tiny size, which are smaller than match can cause devestating injuries, but the case of Kim Ribble-Orr perfectly proves the need for adequate training. Until the standard for dry needling is improved nationwide I will be here to help assist dry needling malpractice victims who were injured and need an expert to help them win their malpractice case or receive a suitable settelment.”
To discover more about hiring acupuncture physician Justin Mandel, DOM AP for your clients dry needling malpractice case go to www.AcupunctureExpertWitness.com/dry-needling
About Acupuncture Expert Witness
Acupuncture expert witness Justin Mandel, DOM AP has increased his services to now include dry needling expert witness services. His expert witness website can be found at www.AcupunctureExpertWitness.com