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.
Gary Wagman, PhD, LAc
Gary Wagman is the author of Your Yin Yang Body Type – The Korean Tradition of Sasang Medicine. He is also a doctor of psychology and practitioner of Oriental Medicine, living in Portland, Oregon. More information about Dr. Wagman and the Yin Yang Body Types can be found on www.sasangmedicine.com.