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.
Jane Grissmer, MAc, Dipl. Ac.
Jane Grissmer is the founder and co-director of Crossings Healing & Wellness in Silver Spring, Md. She is also division chair of theory in the Master of Acupuncture program at the Maryland University of Integrative Health. Contact Jane with questions and comments regarding this article at jgrissmer@crossingshealing.com.