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.
E Douglas Kihn, DOM, LAc (ret.)
Dr. E Douglas Kihn is a retired doctor of Oriental medicine and the author of Chinese Medicine for the Modern World: Ancient Wisdom to Stop Worrying, Hurrying, and Overeating (2019). He received a Master of Arts from Emperor's College of Oriental Medicine and a DOM from Samra University; and has taught at Emperor's College, Samra and Royal University. Learn more at www.gobodytrust.com.