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.
Jessica Bolding, MS, EAMP
Jessica Bolding teaches Tai Chi, Qi Gong, and meditation and has practiced Chinese Medicine in Asia and the United States for over 20 years. In her free time, she enjoys travel, studying global health issues, art, hiking and spending time with her family.