is dry needling the same as acupuncture

Yes, dry needling is acupuncture and shall be categorized as part of acupuncture.

I heard Physical Therapy saying about “dry needling”: “The approach is based on Western anatomical and neurophysiological principles. It should not to be confused with the Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) technique of acupuncture. ”

First of all, let us talk about what is “Traditional”:
“Dry needling” was first described over 2,000 years ago in China’s earliest and most comprehensive extant medical treatise, the Yellow Emperor’s Inner Classic (Huangdi neijing), where it discusses in detail using tender or painful points, also known as “trigger points” or “motor points,” to treat pain and dysfunction, particularly of the neuromusculoskeletal system. Simply described, “dry needling” involves inserting an acupuncture needle into a tender or painful point and then appropriately manipulating (rotating and/or pistoning) it for therapeutic purposes.

Tender or painful points are located in muscles and connective tissues, and, as their name suggests, are identified through tenderness or pain on palpation. This was, in fact, one of acupuncture’s earliest forms of point selection. China’s preeminent physician, Sun Si-Miao (581–682 C.E.), called these tender or painful points “ashi” points. In Chinese, ashi means Ah yes! (That’s the right spot.). So, when the tender or painful point is pressed, the patient feels an unexpected local and/or referred “wince-pain” and says Ah yes! That’s the right spot. Incidentally, in a 1977 study published in Pain (the official journal of the International Association for the Study of Pain), Melzack, Stillwell and Fox established that “every trigger point [reported in the Western medical literature] has a corresponding acupuncture point.”* A number of studies subsequently published in the Western medical literature have reached this same basic conclusion.

So using “Western anatomical and neurophysiological principles” verse “traditional” is like saying “I can occupy your house because we have more scientific definition of your house, or newer language”.

Secondly, Traditional Chinese Medicine does not stop at time 2000 years ago. The Chinese Medicine never stopped. Everyone remembers how in 1970s, New York times chief editor James Reston wrote about how marvelous a small needle can do with his medical condition. His acupuncture story changed the western view of Traditional Chinese Medicine and introduced to American public the magic healing capacity of acupuncture. So many people has benefited by acupuncture treatment. Things are not stopped there, through the recent half century, there are tons of research on effect of acupuncture and on new applications such as electrical acupuncture, scalp acupuncture, articular acupuncture, injection needle acupuncture, dry needling acupuncture, etc ,  Meanwhile, acupuncture has been accepted by western medical doctors into their integrative treatment model. So acupuncture is not just include traditional, but also modern theories and techniques.

Another information:
The World Health Organization (WHO) defines trigger points as a subset of acupuncture points.
• Dry needling for intramuscular therapy is a retitling and repackaging of a historically documented subset of acupuncture known as ashi point needling.
• In a national survey, 82% of acupuncturists use trigger/ashi points for treating musculoskeletal pain.
• The #1 reason patients seek out acupuncture treatment is musculoskeletal pain.