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.
Reshmi Yandapalli, LAc
Reshmi Yandapalli is a licensed acupuncturist pursuing Bastyr University's Doctoral Program. She has been a California licensed acupuncturist for multiple years and recently moved to Seattle to explore an opportunity in tech. She treats patients in the field of Orthopedic Sports Medicine and Neuro-acupuncture.