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.
Stuart S. Shipe, RPh, DOM, Dipl. Ac & CH (NCCAOM)
Dr. Stuart Shipe is an acupuncture physician in private practice in Port St. Lucie, Fla. He is also a consultant pharmacist with experience in allopathic Western medicine.