What is Cupping?
Cupping is an ancient form of Traditional Chinese Medicine therapy technique that uses small glass cups as suction devices that has been used for thousand of years to disperse and break up stagnation and congested blood and negative pressure. This non-invasive deep tissue therapy which involves suction created by partial vacuum cups has been confirmed by researches its effectiveness in loosening muscles, encourage blood flow, and sedate the nervous system.
At Acuwell our certified practitioner perform cupping by swabbing rubbing alcohol onto the bottom of the cup, then lighting it and almost immediately place the cup against the skin. Suction can also be created by 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. Flames are never used near the skin and are not lit throughout the process of cupping, but rather are a means to create the heat that causes the suction within the small cups.
The suction in the cups causes the skin and superficial muscle layer to be lightly drawn into the cup. Cupping is much like the inverse of massage – rather than applying pressure to muscles, it uses gentle pressure to pull them upward. For most patients, this is a particularly relaxing and relieving sensation. Once suctioned, the cups are generally left in place for about ten minutes while the patient relaxes.
The side effects of cupping are fairly mild. Bruising should be expected, but skin should return to looking normal within 10 days. Other potential side effects include mild discomfort, skin infection, or burns. However, a trained health professional will apply an antibiotic ointment and bandage to prevent an infection.