Cupping therapy

Cupping therapy involves the attachment of special glass cups onto specific parts of the body. Suction is created by briefly introducing a flame into the cup to create a vacuum immediately before application. The cups can be left in place for up to ten minutes. One should experience a warm, pulling, stretching sensation, not pain, and any marks that appear on the skin will fade within a week. Cupping is often integrated with acupuncture or massage to treat swelling and pain by promoting the expansion of blood vessels within the skin and muscles in areas such as the back, shoulders, and legs. This increases the circulation of blood and lymph within the joints, improves energy flow to the muscles and tendons and reduces local pressure on the vertebrae of the spine. Cupping also helps draw out and eliminate pathogenic factors from the superficial levels for colds, flu, cough and asthma as it opens the pores so pathogens can be released through the skin.

Gua Sha (a gentle scraping of the skin) has a similar effect to cupping but is more versatile for certain areas of the body. It is often used in combination with acupuncture or massage and is used primarily over the back, neck, shoulder, and chest but can also be applied to arms, legs, and joints. A lubricant is massaged into the area and a scaping tool is then used to apply long gentle strokes to the skin until a light reddening appears thereby releasing any stagnation that may be present and restoring the flow of blood and qi to the area. Gua Sha only brings to the surface what is trapped below, if there is no stagnation there will be no surface marks. You know there is stagnation if you press the skin and quickly take your fingers away and the blanched skin takes a while to colour. Gua Sha is useful for the type of pain that is helped by massage but immediately returns, for chronic pain, sudden stiff neck, awakening with a kink in the body, and pains that come and go.