Hi, guys. Welcome to another episode of the Factor Podcast. I'm your host, Jessica Riddle. Today, we kick off a new 2 part training on the intersection of dry needling and acupuncture in clinical practice with doctor Gary Estadt. Needling techniques can be some of the most effective treatments in a healthcare provider's arsenal. And while both use solid filiform needles and target specific points in the body, acupuncture and dry needling could not differ more in their historical background, philosophy and terminology. And while both acupuncture and dry needling use solid filiform needles and target specific points in the body, they differ in their historical background, philosophy and terminology. In part 1 of this 2 episode series, we'll learn about the fascinating history of needling that goes back over 5000 years, with insights into the incredible case of Otzi the Iceman.

We'll also discuss the critical differences and surprising similarities among dry needling, western medical acupuncture and traditional Chinese acupuncture. Secure the intro music, grab something to take notes with. Let's dive in.

Okay. Thank you, Jessica. As Jessica said, my name is Gary Estadt. I practice up in the Cleveland area. I've been in practice 43 years, and I started doing acupuncture and dry needling back in about 2007 when myself and another doctor wrote the law for Ohio to get acupuncture as an add on service for chiropractors and then became board certified in acupuncture with American Board of Chiropractic Acupuncture. I've been fortunate to serve as the president of both the board and the council that oversees it. And I'm certified in dry needling, and I've been teaching dry needling now for about 7 years. And I've also been asked by the ACA to serve as an expert witness with together with the AMA.

We wrote and got a dry needling code, and I just represented the ACA at the AMA conference on getting an increase for acupuncture services. So it's a great modality to use in your office. But I get asked questions all the time. Should I be using dry needling? Should I be using acupuncture? What should I do? What are the differences? What are the similarities? So we put this presentation on to kinda answer some of those questions for you so that you could choose what what seems to be best for you. So first question I'd ask you is have you considered adding a new modality, like dry needling or acupuncture to your practice? I can tell you that in 43 years of practice, both dry needling and acupuncture to my practice is probably the best thing I've ever done for my patients, not just from a a perspective of I'm adding an additional service into my clinic, but it gave me the ability to start treating things I never would have considered treating with just chiropractic manipulative services and rehabilitation and modalities and things like that. It kind of opened up my eyes to what the possibilities of of services I could give to my patient and some of the things that I'd been reluctant to treat that now all of a sudden were very easy to treat. So I would ask the question is, what option do you think is right for you? Is it dry needling? Is it acupuncture? How think about how how would it benefit you in your practice based upon what type of services you offer, and if acupuncture dry needling is actually right for the type of practice that you have. So we'll kinda talk a little bit about that all, but we'll talk primarily about the differences and the similarities of them all.