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.
Yemeng Chen, PhD, LAc
Dr. Yemeng Chen graduated from Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine in 1985. After that, he worked as an instructor in Shanghai Medical University and practiced as a physician in the affiliated Huashan Hospital, becoming the director of the acupuncture department in 1989. Dr. Chen has more than 30 research papers published in various medical journals in different countries and has also published 10 acupuncture books, including two large-scale reference works. He is currently president of New York College of Traditional Chinese Medicine.