The Tool Is Not A System

I don’t think we should be able to take dry needling immediately upon graduation from a clinical program. In fact, perhaps we shouldn’t be able to take any technique course immediately upon graduation from a clinical program.

Not because techniques aren’t important. But because a technique without a framework can very quickly become the framework.

But I’m going to stick with (and seemingly attack) DN because at the very least, (manual) touch can go beyond MSK.

And with DN…it’s essentially whack-a-mole. I’m not sure there is a system. A framework of thought. Let alone a clinical one.

It’s find the mole, kill the mole. That’s it. As random as it is.

Find the tight spot. Needle the tight spot. Move on.

They may not teach it this way, but it’s certainly what is evident in many practices.
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Acupuncture is different. TCM, Contemporary Medical. Different. Even Integrated Needling as taught by ISS and the FIT Institute. Also different.
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I know some will argue against these statements but I’m going to stand by it. 

I’m going to stand by the fact that I think most new grads should start out with as minimal equipment as possible. 

The table. The floor. Your brain. And ok, your hands.

Learn to observe. Learn to examine. Learn to think. Learn to make decisions.

Note, I did say “shouldn’t take technique course” above, but that doesn’t mean not take a system based course. That, I believe is valuable.


Any system, I’m not sure it matters.


What matters most is having an actual thought process.

Something that forces you to ask why before you ask what technique you’re going to use.

​Because the goal early on shouldn’t be to collect more tools. It should be to learn how to think before reaching for one.

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