A newly graduated doctor was left with bilateral pneumothoraces after a physiotherapist used dry needling to treat a sore neck and shoulder, according to the first case study of its kind.

The 24-year-old junior doctor, who had a BMI of just 21.9kg/m2, had developed neck and shoulder pain while studying for her final exams, say doctors from Regional Hospital Mullingar, Ireland. 

She later attended a physiotherapist, who performed trigger point dry-needling using 40mm-long acupuncture needles (0.25mm diameter). 

These were placed in myofascial trigger points in both trapezius muscles, with the physiotherapist targeting palpably taught skeletal muscle bands, the doctors wrote in the Irish Medical Journal.