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.
Brigid Ting, LAc
Brigid Ting, RAc BSN, MEd is a Registered Acupuncturist living in Richmond, BC, Canada. Her health care experience includes teaching psychiatric nursing and acupuncture in college programs. Her clinical focus is community acupuncture especially treating people experiencing PTSD, mental health and addiction problems, primarily at Richmond Addiction Services.