What is cupping massage?

Many of my patients have never heard of cupping massage and how it works. Others have seen athletes with cupping marks and wondered how it worked. 

What is Cupping? 

Cupping is an amazing form of massage therapy that is incredibly therapeutic and strong. It can reduce pain and promote repair at the cellular level. It’s much more effective than most massages. Cupping helps with blood circulation and myofascial release. It helps with tension and tight muscles. It’s so strong at moving blood that it’s contraindicated for pregnant women. In fact, I used cupping to help induce labor! 

How it Works:

The cups are placed mainly on the back, neck, and shoulders. Oil or lotion is used to help the skin glide upwards into the cup smoothly. The cups are usually left on for a few minutes. During this time, your practitioner can visually see how much blood stagnation or pain you have in that area by looking directly at the cups in each area. The more red or purple that area becomes, the more stagnant blood is in that area. In chronic conditions, you may also see a pale area, which means that the pain is caused by lack of blood supply to that area. This can be caused by long standing chronic pain. The blood simply tries to avoid that area and that’s when most patients start to feel numbness or tingling. Acupuncture and cupping together is great form of therapy for neuropathy.

Most of the time, the cups will make the skin appear pink, red, or purple. A healthy blood flow with no pain should show a pink area that will disappear as soon as the cup is released. Most of my patients have pain so they will usually have red to purple areas.

The great thing about cupping is that the more often you do cupping, the lighter the marks will become over time because healing is taking place. Cupping marks usually stay on a patient for 1-5 days depending on severity of pain and stagnation of blood. When cups are placed on the body, the blood flow of stagnant blood comes up the surface of the skin. Over time your body will be circulating in that area for the next few days to move out that blood that came up to the surface of your skin and made a mark.  This is why cupping is amazing for blood circulation.

How it Feels: Is cupping painful?

No, cupping should not be painful. It feels more like a release and promotes relaxation. The pump can adjust how much suction is taking place. Your practitioner can do 1-3 pumps depending on your comfort level. After cupping is completed, most patients experience a deep sense of relaxation and anxiety relief. 

Who should try cupping?

Here at Acupuncture and Herb Solutions, we believe cupping should be used on everyone of all ages. Kids are great candidates for cupping to help with sports related tension and stiffness and growing pains as well. Adults with pain, stiffness, tension, anxiety are great candidates for cupping and its a great combination with acupuncture for pain relief.