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.
Jennifer Stukey, MSOM, LAc, Dipl. Ac.
Jen Stukey is a licensed acupuncturist and herbalist with over two decades of clinical experience. She owned and operated a multi-practitioner integrative wellness center for 15 years, and is passionate about creating sustainable business models, holistic healing, and empowering others to build lives of ease and joy.