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.
Sam Audette, LAc, Dipl. OM
Sam Audette is a second-generation acupuncturist currently practicing in Los Angeles and the assistant academic dean at Yo San University. Sam earned his master's degree in acupuncture and herbal medicine from Emperor's College in Santa Monica, Calif., and is a teaching assistant with the physician medical acupuncture course Acumed: Integrated Structural Acupuncture.