The cup massage procedure is a simple treatment that gives impressive results. A cup massage helps release the rigid soft tissue through negative pressure and suction, it also helps drain off excess toxins and fluids your body may be retaining, it can help to loosen adhesions and lift the connective tissues. This helps increase the blood flow to the skin and muscles that may have problems with partial atrophy.
I have used cupping sets for doing facial release techniques to assist healing of scars, restricted range of motion on the rib cage to improve breathing, and deep tissue work on old injuries.
Discoloration of the skin after cupping is normal. It will disappear after a few days.
Cupping therapy has a synthesized function of negative pressure, accupoint-pressing and magnetic lines penetrating the body but with no prick into the skin.
This ancient technique is very sedative to the mind and therapeutic to the body. Through several thousand years of clinical experience, the therapeutic applications of cupping have been documented. Cupping Therapy has been found to affect the body up to four inches into its underlying tissues. By using suction and negative pressure, cupping therapy facilitates lymphatic drainage, draining excess fluids, toxins, loosening adhesions, lifting connective tissue, bringing blood flow to stagnant skin and muscles and stimulating the peripheral nervous system.
Varied techniques using stationary and moving glass cups greatly enhance many massage treatments. Cupping intensifies the therapeutic aspects of current treatments and its effects are subtle, yet very powerful. Cupping Therapy also provides an amazing deep tissue massage. Massage cupping can be used on broad areas of the back to break up stagnated waste and stubborn adhesions. Cupping is not only beneficial for muscular pains, it can also be used to treat a number of conditions including general muscular tension, common colds and flu, sporting and other types of injuries, and menstrual pain.
The action on the nervous system is sedating and clients will often descend into a profound state of relaxation.
On a deeper therapeutic level, cupping is very beneficial for many other conditions such as high blood pressure, anxiety, fatigue, chronic headache, and neuralgia.
What is Cupping?
Over the years, practitioners have relied on cupping’s strong suction to increase circulation for:
- Tightened or painful muscles
- Sprains or strains
- Pinched nerves
- Lung congestion
- Menstrual irregularities
- Inflamed breasts
- Lactation dysfunction
- Gastrointestinal disorders
- Cough
- Asthma
C
upping Variations
- Suction Pump Method – Usually composed of plastic, these cupping sets allow the practitioner to use a pump to remove oxygen from the cup, thus creating suction.
- Stationary Cupping – This is when a cup is applied to a specific, congested location and left there for up to 15 minutes.
- Running Cupping – This is when plenty of lubricant is applied to a broad area, a cup is adhered to the body, and then moved around without breaking the seal. Massage therapists can mimic several types of massage strokes by working with this technique.
Cupping Theory
Cupping is known for its ability to break up localized stagnation.
Cupping is reputed to:
- Drain excess fluids and toxins
- Loosen adhesions
- Lift connective tissue
- Enhance circulation in stagnant musculature and fascia
- Stimulate the peripheral nervous system
In terms of TCM theory, the stagnation can be of just about any type: blood, toxins, qi or dampness. The suction created by cupping draws stagnant toxins, heat, energy or fluid out of where it has accumulated and brings it to the body’s surface. Once under the skin, the offending culprit can more easily be eliminated via the body’s waste removal systems.
Based on cupping’s most popular applications, the following conditions benefit from stagnation dispersal. For clarity, this is further broken down by stagnation type:
1. Blood Stagnation – Injuries, adhesions, menstrual irregularities
2. Stagnant Toxins – Gastrointestinal disorders, rigid muscles, breast inflammation
3. Qi Stagnation – Muscular pain, dysmenorrhea, pinched nerves
4. Fluid Stagnation – Lung congestion, asthma, lactation dysfunction
Once an adhesion or congestion is pulled away from its source, fresh blood, energy and fluids rush in to expedite healing.