A student stands over a patient, needle poised. They have a “perfect” prescription: a textbook combination of points harvested from a lecture slide on chronic lower back pain. But as the needle meets the skin, the student hesitates - the symptom of a quiet habit that has taken hold of our profession. We routinely say we “prescribe” points. It sounds efficient. It echoes the authority of biomedical culture and fits neatly into the insurance field. But vocabulary is never neutral; repeated long enough, it dictates behavior.
Alexis Rotella, LAc, MAc, CNC
Alexis Rotella is director of The Jade Spring Health Center in Arnold, Md. She practices Classical Five-Element acupuncture and also maintains an art and haiku blog at www.alexisrotella.com.