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.
Martha Lucas, PhD, LAc
Martha Lucas, PhD, LAc is a Research Psychologist who received her diploma in TCM from the Colorado School of Traditional Chinese Medicine. She studied advanced pulse diagnosis with James Ramholz, OMD, medical qi gong with Master/Dr. Zhengao Yao, and interned with Timothy McGee, LAc.
Her private practice is located in Denver, CO. Lucas teaches year-long and ongoing internships in the Pulse Balance System called The Pulse Diagnosis Revelation: It's not all about the qualities as well as seminars in Mei Zen Cosmetic Acupuncture and abdominal acupuncture.