Staying Safe in 2025: Updated Guidelines for Acupuncture and Dry Needling Practice

Pertinent changes in safety standards for the practice of acupuncture and dry needling will be outlined in this presentation. Relevant considerations of legal obligations and professional indemnity insurance will also be addressed in this session. This presentation is pertinent for physiotherapists utilising needling as a clinical modality or for physiotherapists or organisations employing physiotherapists that practice Acupuncture or Dry Needling.

The third revision of the ASAP Physiotherapy Guidelines for Safe Acupuncture and Dry Needling and along with the Chinese Medicine Board’s Guidelines on Infection Prevention
and Control for Acupuncture and Related Practices (2023) will be discussed along with the revised Australian Guidelines for the Prevention and Control of Infection in Health Care (2024) and reviewed needle insertion guidelines from the National Health and Medical Research Council’s Australian Immunisation Handbook (2025). Reference will also be made to the ADNG’s six part interactive online Safety in Acupuncture and Dry Needling Module.

Presenter

Leigh McCutcheon, MACP, graduated in 1991 and holds a Master of Musculoskeletal Physiotherapy (first class honours), a Graduate Certificate in Orthopaedic Manipulative Therapy, a Post Graduate Diploma in Western Acupuncture and completed a PHCRED research fellowship. She is the director of Combined Health Acupuncture and Dry Needling Education, practices at Robina Physiotherapy and sessionally lectures at Bond University. Leigh has held committee member positions on the Acupuncture and Dry Needling Group and the APA Risk Management Committee. Leigh produced the APA Safe Practice in Acupuncture and Dry Needling lecture series and co-wrote the ASAP Acupuncture and Dry Needling Safety Guidelines.

Host

Acupuncture and Dry Needling National Group

Date of Live Event

31/07/2025

CPD Hours

1.5 hours

Please note: The content of this Lecture on Demand (LOD) was captured via a recording of a live lecture at the APA premises. Due to the nature of the event and the recording method, this LOD may not have captured some of the questions/comments from live audience. Your purchase of this module indicates your acceptance of this.