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.
Junxia Su, DAcCHM, LAc
Dr. Junxia Su is a California-licensed acupuncturist. She obtained her doctorate in acupuncture with Chinese herbal medicine from Vitality University of California and a master's degree from WhiteWater University of California. She was a MD in China for 20 years and taught Western medicine class at Five Branches University, California University of Silicon-Valley, and the University of East-West Medicine for seven years. She currently practices in San Jose, Calif.