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.
Lauri Elizabeth, MAc, LAc
Lauri Elizabeth is a board-certified acupuncturist, certified Alexander Technique teacher, and adjunct faculty member at National University of Natural Medicine (NUNM). She graduated from NUNM in 2015 with a Master of Acupuncture (MAc) degree.