acupuncture clinic

Ding Wellness Center follows the principles of ancient traditional Chinese medicine acupuncture. We view each person as a unique individual and formulate treatment based on your own conditions. Over 35 years of combined experience in acupuncture, orthopedic surgery, and biomedical research powers us with knowledge and comprehensive understanding of your condition to provide you with a personalized treatment.

Located at Dublin Center, provides acupuncture service for: Dublin, Upper Arlington, Powell, Worthington, Columbus, Westerville, New Albany

Haiming Ding, LAc

National Certification Commission for Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine.

M.D/M.Med: Shanxi Medical University

Ph.D: Beijing Medical University

Orthopedic surgeon/Associate professor: Shanxi and Beijing Medical University

Clinical Assistant Professor/Acupuncturist/ Research Scientist: Ohio State University

Treat your musculoskeletal pain by a former experienced orthopedic surgeon with training in Traditional Chinese Medicine

We Specialize in

Pain Management

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Concept of Acupuncture: simple but comprehensive

Acupuncture view of human body

Ancient traditional Chinese medicine views human being as part of the nature. Human organs, like the root of a tree, absorb, store, and provide the body with vital energy. The energy flows along branches/channels throughout the body. Change in weather or seasons, strong and persistent emotions, and improper diet can all influence the body and its energy flow. Change in energy flow further affects blood flow, which both can become blocked, too much or too little, more heat or cold, causing various symptoms.

Along with symptoms, the body may also show up changes like in the color and coating of the tongue and quality of the pulse, which all provide clues to whole body condition. When seeing a patient, traditional Chinese medicine acupuncture views and analyzes local symptoms in the whole complete body system, to find out the underlying root cause whether it is from local channels or the consequence from other channels or organs, and then address it respectively.

The specific acupuncture points are selected based on the principles of traditional Chinese medicine. It has been suggested by ancient masters that taking it seriously by choosing one channel among three candidates and using one best point among five potentials from the channel. Stimulating techniques include regular fine acupuncture needles, micro-electrical stimulation of the needles, warming up needles or acupoints with moxibustion, cupping, etc. By stimulating these acupoints, acupuncture is supposed to adjust the energy flow, balance the organs, and encourage body's natural healing. The exact stimulating techniques depends on the symptoms and the root cause.

Although acupuncture has been practiced more than 3000 years, we still do not know how exactly acupuncture works in a modern scientific language. It is encouraging that more and more research findings are revealing the mechanisms of this ancient art, from the changes in molecular biology such as neurotransmitters and other biomarkers, to more visible changes in larger neuroimaging, such as the functional MRI. Controlled clinical trials based on today's criteria have been conducted to investigate the effect of acupuncture on modern popular conditions such as PTSD, stroke, and common pain disorders like migraine, neck pain, shoulder pain, lower back pain, and osteoarthritis.

Acupuncture, mind, and diet

As a holistic medicine, it believes body and mind behave as a unity. Contribution of mind to human illness has been described in one of the most ancient Chinese medicine books, Huangdi Neijing or Inner Canon of the Yellow Emperor. It says that many disorders start from energy change because of strong emotions, and different emotions affect energy in a different manner. Thus, restoring and maintaining the inner peace is essential to one’s health. Besides using acupuncture needles for soothing strong emotions, practicing Taiji exercises will also help the energy and therefore assist in disease prevention and its healing.

The concept that food is medicine is highly valued in traditional Chinese medicine. Although today we do not have to eat animal liver to treat night blindness, some basic natures of the food still influence human body, such as the features of coldness and warmness. Compared to the fast effect of acupuncture and herbs in controlling the symptoms of a disorder, proper diet should be considered in first place for one’s long term wellbeing, as suggested in one of the earliest Chinese medical encyclopedia, Qianjin Yaofang.

The more patients I see, the more I realize the complexity of human body and its disorders. The powerful connection of mind and body is showing in every day’s patients, and the influence of diet also repeatedly reminds that medicine should include food. Besides a main complaint, such as a pain, a patient often has multiple other symptoms, distributed in more than one anatomy system, such as insomnia, nausea, constipation, etc. There are often more than one pathogenic factors contributing to his or her condition. We try to put them together to find and address the root causes and symptoms.

Acupuncture and orthopedics

In my practice, orthopedic knowledge and surgical experience helps me better understanding and treating many pain issues or nerve pinches. In orthopedic, I used to focus on a small area to address the issues. In traditional medicine, I often need local symptoms and information from the whole body to make and address a pattern diagnosis. Based on my experience, one thing is in common, i.e. that a proper diagnosis is critical. A lower back pain, for example, can be caused or affected by various different reasons no matter from a view in modern medicine or alternative medicine, such as age, body type, posture, pain in other part of the body, diet, emotion, etc. As you can imagine, different patients may have different traditional medicine diagnosis, need different acupuncture points or modalities and respond differently to treatment. Some patients may notice the benefit quick and require a few sessions; some others may require more sessions to build up the effect or maintain the effect.

Our mission is to spend time with you to put all the puzzles together to provide the best possible acupuncture service to support your own natural power in its healing process.

For more information about acupuncture and our practice

You are welcome to visit our Facebook page: Ding Wellness. We continue to post mini-blogs about acupuncture, Qi, difference between Traditional Chinese Medicine and modern medicine.

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