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.
Steven Collins, DAOM
Dr. Steven Collins has been practicing Chinese medicine since 2001. He received his first degree at Northwestern Health Sciences University and his doctorate at ATOM. He has been a faculty member at two schools of Chinese medicine and is a frequent lecturer. Currently, he practices in Lansing, Mich., and can be reached at qidoc@qidoc.com.