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.
Celeste Homan, MS, MAc, LAc
Celeste Homan is an associate professor in the Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine program at the Maryland University of Integrative Health (MUIH) where she received her master's degree when it was The Tai Sophia Institute. She has published several articles based on these studies and her clinical work. Celeste also holds a certificate in advanced massage and bodywork from the Baltimore School of Massage and a Master of Science in Engineering from the Johns Hopkins University. She is a candidate for her first professional doctorate in acupuncture from MUIH.