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.
Colleen Curran, LAc, DAc
Colleen Curran is the supervisor of clinical internships for acupuncture and Oriental medicine at the Maryland University of Integrative Health and manager / main acupuncturist at the Kaufman Cancer Center at Upper Chesapeake Medical Center. She is also the founder and sole proprietor of Zen Path Wellness, providing acupuncture services to the Harford County, Md., community.