Dunning Acupuncture & Massage

Start Your Wellness Journey! 

By Janette Calabro

Dunning Acupuncture & Massage Clinic approaches health and wellness with the transformative power of Classical East Asian Medicine. Owner Joel Dunning and his wife, Teresa, use time-tested techniques like acupuncture, herbal medicine, and therapeutic massage to take their clients on a journey through wellness, balance, and health, with a focus on prevention. 

Joel has a load of degrees under his belt (including the belt itself, which is a black belt in karate). He began by pursuing a pre-med degree in Minnesota, followed that with two years of studying in China, and eventually earned a master’s degree in acupuncture in Los Angeles. Joel is state licensed, and his education has expanded into advanced certifications. He loves studying how the body works and believes strongly in the promise of holistic medicine. 

For Joel, living well is about the discipline of doing simple things without going to extremes. He recommends choices like sleeping enough, getting the proper amount of exercise, and enjoying a nutritional diet for your body type. He promotes common-sense techniques to reduce stress levels—simple things that really work. 

“We all want to live our most healthy life,” says Joel, “but we live in an overstimulated world. There’s so much going on! From the time we’re in school, we’re forced to multi-task. Many people are sleep-deprived and have poor nutrition.” 

“There are reasons we get sick,” he continues. “Genetics play into it, but a big part is our lifestyle, like stressors, trauma, emotions, diet, and overall exercise.” The preventive medicine that Joel practices requires looking deeper than an initial diagnosis. 

For example: A patient visits their doctor for a thyroid check, and the diagnosis is that their thyroid isn’t producing enough hormones. Joel doesn’t settle for that. He wants to dive in. “Why are the hormone levels low?” he asks. “What are the factors that led to that diagnosis? We don’t just wake up one day with high blood pressure or diabetes. Illnesses develop over time. If you correct the course, you can avoid a lot of future issues. That’s what preventive care is.” 

Treatment at Dunning Acupuncture & Massage starts with an examination of the patient’s whole chronology of health. Part of the exam studies the pulse, a huge diagnostic factor for the patient’s volume of blood, the tension of the blood vessels, and how the blood moves through the vessels. Joel examines different health factors, putting the pieces together into an overall diagnostic pattern. 

A treatment plan involves deep thought, a history of case studies, and checks and balances. One treatment, acupuncture, is the ancient practice of inserting fine needles into specific body points to help regulate energy flow and enhance well-being. It often relieves stress and pain, along with numerous other maladies. Chinese medicine is often customized for each patient with high-quality herbs, while massage offers deep relaxation and numerous therapeutic benefits.

“With things like herbs and acupuncture, you can actually fertilize the garden and make things stronger,” Joel asserts. “You can get the function back like when you were younger. With any disease that builds when you get older, there’s a reason it appeared. It’s not just random bad luck.”

Joel encourages self-care of all kinds, including stretching for at least two thirds of your exercise routine. (That is, if you work out five hours a week, you should spend three of those hours stretching.) He explains that power isn’t just about muscle but about leverage in the body and room for the joints to bend. 

Another part of wellness that can get overlooked, Joel says, is learning how to breathe. “If we’re breathing into the right place, the blood flows directly down into the lower belly, which calms the nervous system, keeping the body grounded and the belly warm.” The more we use our brains, Joel notes, the more our energy flows upward and blood pressure goes up. That creates tension in the upper body, and the lower back can become cold and weak. Really learning how to breathe increases blood flow to the lower body, Joel says. “This strengthens the pelvic floor, lower back, and lower abdomen. Movement is better, as our center of gravity is centered in the belly. We walk a lot better and move a lot better because we’re not so tight in the upper body.” 

Joel advises making time and committing to self-care. Mindfulness is popular, Joel says, but he prefers the concept of “body-fulness,” which means that when the body is healthy, the mind and nervous system will follow. To start your health journey, call Dunning Acupuncture & Massage at 402-650-7715. The clinic is located at 1020 South 78th Street, in Omaha. Visit pinpointmedicine.com to learn more. 

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