One of the advantages of our new office at Plaza de la Cruz is the space to have a complete cupping station. In order to provide cupping to patients, a practitioner needs space for to properly sanitize and store cups. Many people have seen pictures of cup marks, but the process and applications of cupping therapy are mysterious.
Cupping or its counterpart, scraping, is an especially useful adjunct to acupuncture treatment when patients are suffering from muscle pain, back strain, or other musculoskeletal issues. It can be also be used to promote circulation in the organs, especially the lungs, liver, gallbladder and stomach.
The British Cupping Society says that cupping therapy is used to treat:
- Blood disorders such as anemia and hemophilia
- Rheumatic diseases such as arthritis and fibromyalgia
- Fertility and gynecological disorders
- Skin problems such as eczema and acne
- High blood pressure
- Migraines
- Anxiety and depression
- Bronchial congestion caused by allergies and asthma
- Varicose veins
Chinese theory holds that good circulation is essential for health and pain-free living. When a muscle spasms, its blood supply is diminished. The lactic acid laden blood can not get out of the muscle fibers, while the new oxygen saturated blood can not get in. The manual therapies, cupping and scraping literally force the old toxic blood out and let the new blood into muscle tissue.
The results are often immediate! Range of motion increases while pain decreases!
As part of the restoration of circulation, the old blood must be removed. These therapies literally pull the stagnant blood up to the skin so the body can more effectively break it down. The cupping and scraping marks look like bruises. However, these therapies did not create the bruises-the stuck blood (which is all a bruise is) was forced out and up to the surface. You were walking around with those bruises in your muscles that your could not see, and they hurt!
If there is no pain or blood stagnation, there will be no marks from cupping or scraping.
Cupping and scraping done on healthy tissue should not generate any marks. In fact, as patient’s pain decreases, the amount and darkness of cupping and scraping marks decrease–until there is no pain, no stagnation, and no marks.
Far from painful, most patients say that cupping and scraping feel like a deep massage. Come discover what these therapies can do for you!
