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.
Elizabete Gomes, LAc, RN, ACN
Elizabete Gomes is a graduate of AOMA Graduate School of Integrative Medicine. She is a Texas Medical Board-Licensed Acupuncturist, a Registered Nurse, and an Applied Clinical Nutritionist. She is also trained in the Hakomi method and is a yoga and meditation teacher. She is the founder/owner of Well Life Place in Austin, Texas. She has a passion for providing her patients with positive and life-affirming comprehensive health care. She can be reached through the website www.welllifeplace.com.