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.
David Rindge, DOM, LAc, RN
David Rindge, DOM, LAc, RN, has been training licensed, health care professionals in laser and other energy based therapies through Healing Light Seminars and writing and as a regular columnist for Acupuncture Today since 2002. He is co-author of Laser Therapy; A Clinical Manual, Secretary of the North American Association for Laser Therapy and President Emeritus of the Florida State Oriental Medical Association. David received Conscious Living Partnerships' Leader of Innovative Medicine Award in 2005 and has more than 35 years health care experience as a doctor of Oriental medicine, acupuncture physician, perfusionist, respiratory therapist and registered nurse.