What do Justin Bieber, Michael Phelps, Lady Gaga and Kim Kardashian West all have in common? They love cupping!! What, the…is cupping?? Well, lets go back a little bit, to one of the earliest documentations of cupping. It can be found in the work titled ‘A Handbook of Prescriptions for Emergencies’, which was written by a Taoist herbalist by the name of Ge Hong and which dates all the way back to 300 AD. That’s what you call Ancient History! The old Chinese medical maxim holds that pain results from the congestion, stagnation, and blockage of Qi, or vital energy, vital fluids, lymph, phlegm, and blood. If pain is the essence of disease, then suffering is a result of an obstructed or an irregular flow in the body. Chinese cupping is therefore a method of breaking up the blockage to restore the body’s natural flow of energy also known as Qi (Chee). Cupping may be trending at the moment, but it’s not new.
Cupping has many health benefits – including:
- Helping to ease pain and inflammation
- Increase blood flow
- Relaxation
- Aids in detox
- Provides a deep-tissue massage
- 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
Cupping is the best for lung issues, and can clear congestion from a common cold or help to control a person’s asthma. In fact, respiratory conditions are one of the most common maladies that cupping is used to relieve.
Depending on the specific treatment, skin marking is common after the cups are removed. This may be a simple red ring that disappears quickly or a purple to red ‘suction’ mark. The discoloration left by the cups is normal, it’s our mission to bring the blood to the surface to break down muscle fibers. Dark circles may appear where the cups were placed, but are not the same as a bruise caused by blunt-force trauma. Treatments are not painful and they can be 5 minutes or 35 minutes depending on the severity of the issue.
Things to look for when your wanting to get a cupping treatment done, glass cups (aka Fire cupping) is the best most effective, make sure your practitioner is professionally trained, licensed, and follows a meridian system such as a Traditional Chinese Medicine/Registered Acupuncturist (R.Ac)
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