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.
Meredith Smith, DAIH, Dipl. Ac., LAc
Meridith Smith received her Master of Acupuncture in 2013 from the New England School of Acupuncture, and her Doctor of Acupuncture and Integrative Health from Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Science University in 2019. She is the founder of Metrowest Family Acupuncture in Wayland, Mass., and adjunct faculty / clinical supervisor at MCPHS University.