Dry needling adverse events and safety (prospective practitioner survey)

Prospective questionnaire study of 420 US physical therapists reporting adverse events across 20,494 dry needling treatment sessions over six weeks. Minor events are common: the three most frequent were bleeding (16%), bruising (7.7%), and pain during treatment (5.9%). Serious events are rare but documented, the most notable being pneumothorax from needling near the chest wall, alongside isolated reports of nerve injury, syncope and infection. High-quality safety data are limited, resting mostly on surveys and case reports rather than controlled study. The consensus: dry needling is generally safe in trained hands, with common minor effects and rare serious ones.