A Healthy Dose of Healing? Try a CUPful!

Cupping! One of my favorite multitasking techniques! I love to use cups to work on treating the lower back while I work on other areas of the back.

What even is cupping?

Cupping is a traditional form of medicine practiced in China and the Middle East, and is even mentioned in one of the oldest medical texts, Eber’s papyrus (1550 B.C.E.) from Ancient Egypt. Traditional practitioners of cupping believe that it helps to stimulate the body’s Qi, or life force, and balances the body’s yin and yang, or positive and negative energies. Some believe that one of the benefits of cupping therapy is the release of toxins from the body.

Cupping uses suction to draw blood to or away from various parts of the body, increasing blood flow and thereby increasing healing processes and decreasing pain. The suction force expands and breaks open tiny blood vessels (capillaries) under your skin. Your body replenishes the cupped areas with healthier blood flow and stimulates healing at a cellular level. This can relieve muscle tension and improve overall blood flow, and may also help form new connective tissues and create new blood vessels in the tissue.

What happens after my cupping session?

Because cupping breaks open the capillaries, you will have red, round cupping therapy marks after your session. They may look like bruises, but they are not true bruises that have injured muscle fibers. You may be a little stiff and sore after your session, so don’t overexert yourself after!

In the research, cupping therapy has demonstrated effectiveness in relieving arthritic, neuritic, and musculoskeletal pain that affects the trunk, extremities, and neck. Cupping is sometimes also used to treat high blood pressure, headaches, and even some gastrointestinal issues like irritable bowl disease.#sarasotachiropractor

Cups come in varieties of materials. Ancient Chinese medicine often uses glass and utilizes a technique called fire cupping!

Cups don’t stay on for longer than 10 minutes at a time and each one is cleaned and sanitized between patients.