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.
Marilyn Allen, Editor at Large
Marilyn Allen is a well-known expert in the fields of acupuncture and medical malpractice. She holds an MS degree from Pepperdine University and teaches courses in acupuncture practice management and ethics at Pacific College of Oriental Medicine. She is also the current director of marketing for the American Acupuncture Council.