Can Cupping Help With Your Pain?
Yes! When used with other therapy techniques, cupping can be a good addition to help stimulate the nervous system, reduce pain and stimulate healing.
Cupping Can Help With The Following Conditions:
- Fatigue
- Stress and anxiety
- Tight muscles
- Tight fascia
- High blood pressure
- Decreased blood flow
- Damaged tissue
- Headaches
- Joint and muscle pain
- Overactive nervous system
- Back and neck pain
- Skin diseases such as acne and hives
- Lowering cholesterol
- Migraines
- Knee arthritis
- Improving immune function
- Shingles
- Facial Paralysis
- Cough & dyspena
- Lumber disc herniation
- Cervical spondylosis
What is Cupping?
Cupping is a means of creating suction over the skin with a tool. This causes a change in pressure under the cup and may facilitate healing and increased blood flow. Cupping is proposed to cause muscle relaxation, changes in local tissue structures, increase in blood circulation and activation of the nervous system.
Blood contains very important properties that help with healing. By increasing blood flow, we can help speed up tissue recovery time.
Types of Cupping Include:
- Glass + Fire
- Plastic Suction
- Silicone Suction
Cupping Styles Can Include:
- Dry & Wet cupping
- Stationary cup
- Movement of cup
- Static cup with movement of body
Yes!
There are very few instances that cupping can be harmful. Your therapist will go through a list of conditions which would indcate that cupping should not be used.
When someone says cupping, often the first thought in peoples heads are the circle shaped “bruises”. Well these “bruises” are not actually bruises at all.
The markings are actually just a pooling of blood where no blood vessels have been damaged. These marks should not be painful! These circles form when the cup is held in one position for a certain amount of time but if done correctly they should be pain free and disappear within a day or two.
It depends. There are a large number of techniques that can be used with cupping. That being said, some are more relaxing than others.
Intensity depends on the following factors:
- the amount of tension in your tissues
- The amount of suction added to the cup
- The amount of cups placed on an area
- If the cup is moving or not
- If you are moving your body while the cups are on
There are a few conditions and situations where cupping is not safe. Your therapist will be aware of these contraindication.
A few instances where we will not cup:
- An open wound
- An area where there is deep vein thrombosis.
- Over a pacemaker
- Eyes & body orifices
- Where an individual is prone to swelling quite easily due to various conditions .
There is no clear identified mechanism of action of cupping therapy. It is purposed that cupping causes the promotion of the skin’s blood flow [9], changing of the skin’s biomechanical properties [10], increasing pain thresholds, improving local anaerobic metabolism [11], reducing inflammation [12], and modulation of the cellular immune system. [13].
There are not many side effects associated with cupping. The side effects you may experience will typically occur during your treatment or immediately after.
Side effects during appointment may include:
- Dizziness or feeling light-headed
- Sweating
- Nausea
Side effects after may include:
- Temporary soreness
- Dizziness or feeling light-headed
- Pain or soreness around cupping mark
- Discolouration where cup was, bruising/hematoma
- Inflection * (Risk is low with proper cleaning and performing dry cupping)