As a part of Oriental Medicines, acupuncture and the use of natural herbs are well-known in traditional Chinese medicine. But you may not know, cupping is another popular healing remedy that can provide an especially pleasant experience. In this post, let me introduce what Chinese cupping medicine is.
What Is Cupping Therapy?
Cupping therapy is commonly used for treating diseases in traditional Chinese medicine. Practitioners believe it can remove cold and dampness as well as eliminate stagnation. Other benefits may include activating blood, reducing swelling and relieving fatigue.
How Does Cupping Treatment Work?
One of the earliest documentations related to cupping is A Handbook of Prescriptions for Emergencies. The author was a Taoist herbalist who lived in 300 AD. There are many cupping therapy benefits, including helping with pain, inflammation, blood flow, relaxation, and well-being.
Cupping, through the specially made cup as a tool, using suction, combustion, steam, and other methods to cause pressure inside the cup. the cup adsorbs on the body surface producing benign stimulation as well as adjusting the body function and preventing disease. Therpists believe this alternative Medicine Method can promote both the flow of Qi and blood heal swelling and pain and even sickness.
The Concept Of Cupping Medicine
According to the History of Chinese Cupping, the physiological activities of the human body summarizes as yin and yang. The normal life activities of the human body are the result of maintaining a harmonious and unified relationship between the two sides of yin and yang. In other words, it’s the result of a dynamic balance. If this human body balance breaks, no matter of internal or external factors, people get sick. Therefore, restoring the balance of yin and yang becomes the key to treatment.
Adjusting Yin and Yang
Traditional Chinese Medicine believes cupping has the effect of adjusting yin and yang through meridians and acupoints. For example, a massage with a cupping treatment activates the stimulation of the body. Through the self-adjusting by the human body, the imbalance of prosperity and decline gets corrected. So the body can be restored stability and health.
Strengthen Qi
In Chinese Medicine, the blockage of qi circulation causes human illness. The pathogenic factors conflicts the flow of qi in the human body. And the healthy qi has functions of anti-inflammation, immune and repairing and regulation. So, the work of cupping is to enhance the smoothy flow of qi.
Dredging Meridians
The Meridian is a pathway system that runs the whole body and blood. It communicates with the body organs, connects the inside and outside, and senses the conduction information. Cupping therapy, according to the meridians and organs principles as well as physiological and pathological interactions, works through the suction and extraction at acupoints to strengthen the Qi and blood and elimate the diseases.
What Are the Procedures of Cupping Treatment?
There are several ways that a practitioner can create suction in the cups. The tranditional method involves swabbing rubbing alcohol onto the bottom of the cup, then lighting it and putting the cup immediately against the skin. Another way is placing an inverted cup over a small flame, or by using an alcohol-soaked cotton pad over an insulating material to protect the skin, then lighting the pad and placing an empty cup over the flame to extinguish it.
As the air inside the cup cools, it creates a suction. This causes human skin to rise and redden as your blood vessels expand. The cup is generally left in place for a few minutes.
A more modern version of cupping uses a rubber pump instead of fire to create the suction inside of the cup. Sometimes therapists use silicone cups, which they can move from place to place on your skin for a massage-like effect.
How Does Cupping Treatment Determines Symptoms?
Cupping can cause small blisters, small drops of water, bleeding spots, blood stasis, itching and other phenomena in the skin. All these are normal treatment reactions. Generally, the “yang” syndrome and the heat syndrome show bright red ecchymoses; the “yin” syndrome and the cold syndrome mostly show purple-red or red-red ecchymoses; the cold syndrome and the wet syndrome mostly show blisters and water droplets; the deficiency syndrome shows more flushing or redness. If there is no ecchymosis in the area, or if there is flushing, it disappears immediately after the can, indicating that the disease is still mild, the condition is not serious or the disease is close to healing.
Who Should Not Get Cupping?
Cupping is not suitable for everyone. The main effect of cupping is promoting blood circulation and silting. It may have obvious effects on people who suffer from cervical spondylosis and lumbar spondylosis. However, for heart disease patients, skin-damaged people, pregnant women, menstruating women, drunken people, and the elderly and infirm, it is not suitable for cupping.