Tennessee committee clears bill letting athletic trainers perform dry needling with training and board rules

The House Health Full Committee on Thursday approved House Bill 62, amended to set training and competency requirements for athletic trainers who use dry needling as a treatment modality.

Sponsor remarks and witnesses framed the bill as a patient-care expansion for student athletes and others treated by athletic trainers. Bryce Sawyer, head athletic trainer at the University of Memphis, told the committee dry needling “is a technique used by health care providers to address pain movement issues, particularly those associated with myofascial trigger points,” and that it “helps alleviate pain and increase range of motion.”

The legislation authorizes an athletic trainer who has obtained the required training and certification to use dry needling and other physical modalities “for the prevention, recognition, evaluation, management, disposition, rehabilitation, and treatment of athletic injuries.” The bill clarifies that dry needling performed by athletic trainers “does not constitute the practice of acupuncture,” authorizes the Board of Athletic Trainers to adopt rules governing the practice, and directs the board to establish minimum competency requirements. The sponsor said the bill requires at least 24 hours of dry-needling-specific instruction plus an additional 50 hours of instruction; the board must approve schools and organizations that provide the instruction.

Committee members asked about limits, training levels and safety. Sawyer and sponsors said courses include multiple levels, and that anatomy knowledge and supervised clinical experience are expected. Representative McKenzie asked whether dry needling education is now taught at the master’s-entry level for athletic trainers; Sawyer said the field has shifted to a master’s-entry standard in recent years. Representatives pressed whether training requires supervised clinical hours when learners practice near sensitive anatomy; sponsors replied those details are to be defined in board rules. Representative Mitchell noted Tennessee’s proposed hours exceed many other states and asked whether the higher standard was intentional; the sponsor said the bill seeks “to make our athletic trainers go through that same rigor” as physical therapists.

The committee adopted an amendment requested by the Department of Health and the Tennessee Pharmacists Association that adjusts definitions and the effective date for rulemaking. The measure, as amended, requires the Board of Athletic Trainers to promulgate rules, sets competency and instruction thresholds, and takes effect for rulemaking upon becoming law, with a broader effective date of Sept. 1 for other purposes to allow the board time to adopt rules.

The clerk recorded 21 ayes, 1 no and 1 present-not-voting; the bill moves to calendar and rules as amended.

Questions and discussion during the hearing focused on: the distinction between dry needling and acupuncture, specific training hours and supervised clinical experience, safety when needling near the neck and chest and the board’s rulemaking authority to set limits and address adverse events.

The bill will next be considered by the full calendar process before further floor action.