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.
Kerry Boyle, MS, LAc
Kerry Boyle is a nationally board certified, licensed acupuncturist in practice at Integrative Acupuncture in both Williston and Montpelier, Vt. (www.acupunctureinvermont.com). A 2003 graduate of Bastyr University, she specializes in integrating acupuncture and Chinese medicine for women's health and fertility. Kerry is a 2020 acupuncture doctoral candidate at Pacific College.