Cupping therapy uses small glass cups as suction devices that are placed on the skin. Once the suction has occurred, the cups can be gently moved across the skin. 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.
Cupping is much like the inverse of massage – rather than applying pressure to muscles, it pulls the tissues upward. The suction and negative pressure provided by cupping can loosen muscles, encourage blood flow, and sedate the nervous system (which makes it an excellent treatment for high blood pressure).
Cupping targets the meridian channels, affecting tissues up to four inches deep. Toxins can be released, blockages can be cleared, and veins and arteries can be refreshed within these four inches of affected tissues. Even hands, wrists, legs, and ankles can be ‘cupped,’ thus applying the healing to specific organs that correlate within these points.
Cupping is used to relieve back and neck pains, stiff muscles, anxiety, fatigue, migraines, rheumatism, and even cellulite. It is also very helpful for the lungs, 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.
This treatment can be combined with other massage treatments or administered alone.