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.
Rebecca "Eve" Harburg, DAOM, Dipl. OM, LAc
Dr. Rebecca "Eve" Harburg earned her doctoral degree from Emperor's College of Traditional Oriental Medicine in 2020, after completing her master's degree at Oregon College of Oriental Medicine (her native city)in 2016. Focused on validating the clinical relevance of stress, including stress due to traumatization, Dr. Harburg recently earned a grant to provide 140 free community acupuncture treatments to alleviate stress for those facing financial difficulties brought on or exacerbated by the pandemic. For additional information, visit her website: evenoutbend.com.