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.
Crystal Ford, DACM, LAc
Dr. Crystal Ford is the owner of Deschutes Acupuncture in Bend, Ore. For more information or assistance implementing curbside acupuncture, contact her at deschutesacupuncture.com. (As of press time, Dr. Ford was poised to post a video to her site for acupuncturists interested in learning more about this service.) You can also view photos of curbside acupuncture in action on her Instagram page:  www.instagram.com/deschutes.acupuncture/.