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.
Interesting Quote
"People's needs maybe are not being met by conventional medicine, so we need to question ourselves what we are doing wrong. We need to evaluate these alternative therapies scientifically · those that are found to be effective should be embraced by conventional medicine, and those that are found to be ineffective should be rejected by both conventional medicine and patients."
- Dr. Adam J. Singer, University Medical Center, SUNY-Stony Brook.
Resource
- Gunnerson T. Many ER patients have tried alternative remedies. Excite News, March 7, 2000.