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.
Lee Chen-Yu, BA, OMD
Dr. Lee Chen-Yu has served as the director of Yu Sheng Chinese Medicine Clinic in Taiwan for over 40 years. He has been actively engaged in the clinical application, instruction,and research of Chinese medicine — a visionary rooted in the classics and attuned to our modern environment. Learn more at www.facebook.com/groups/2982083568778240.