Cupping (fire cupping)
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Cupping is a Traditional Chinese Medicine healing therapy
Most often someone would get this sort of treatment if they went to see an acupuncturist, and the practitioner felt this was the appropriate treatment for the problem. However, some people just really like how it feels and get their own cups so they can do this themselves at home. Sliding the cups across the skin can feel a lot like a deep massage and is very relaxing.
What Cupping Looks Like
Glass Inspirators and Cupping Sets
My Experiences With Cupping
I've known about cupping for about a decade now, and I've had it done on a few occasions. It's not painful but it can leave you with some funky circle bruises on your skin for a while afterwards. Most often the skin is massaged a bit with oil. This lets the skin and cup edge slide more easily against each other when the cups are applied.
A glass cup has a lit torch held inside it for a few seconds. This is just enough to warm the air, which creates a vacuum effect. The cup is then quickly plopped down on the skin. A small area of skin is sucked up into the cup and that's what holds it to the skin surface. The hotter the air, the stronger the vacuum and suction feeling. If it feels too tight at this point, either the skin wasn't oiled enough or the vacuum is just a tad too strong. The cup can be easily removed and reapplied if it's really uncomfortable.
Sometimes large cups are applied and then slide back and forth on the body surface. This feels like a massage, as the cup sucks up a bit of the skin and by moving the cup, it feel like a deep muscle push done with the heel of the hand. Smaller cups can also be applied over areas where chi is blocked or where you want to increase circulation.
Cups are left in place for up to a half hour approximately. To remove them, you just break the seal by pressing down at the edge of them with a finger. The marks left behind are a combination of how strong the vacuum of the cups was and what impurities/toxins were being removed. Most often the circles left behind are reddish-brown but they can also be yellowish or even a bit more blue like a traditional bruise. These fade anywhere from a day to over a week or two depending on how long the cups were on you and what your own skin healing is like.
Theraputic Cupping Sets
Information about Cupping
Ragotin Treated with a Cupping Glass, from 'Roman Comique' by Paul Scarron
Jean Coulom
18x24 Giclee Print
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- What is cupping therapy?
- Cupping is an ancient Chinese method of causing local congestion. A partial vacuum is created in cups placed on the skin either by means of heat or suction. This draws up the underlying tissues. When the cup is left in place on the skin for a few minutes, blood stasis is formed and localized healing takes place.
- A World of Acupuncture - Cupping
- Cupping is generally used as an alternative to acupuncture to infulence qi and blood flow.
- Cupping
- Cupping is one of the oldest methods of traditional Chinese medicine. The earliest recorded use of cupping dates to the early fourth century, when the noted herbalist Ge Hong wrote about a form of cupping in A Handbook of Prescriptions.
- 'Cupping' Takes The Pain Away - CBS News
- It looks like something out of medieval alchemy, but cupping therapy is a form of alternative medicine that recently left some high profile marks on Gwyneth Paltrow. Find out why it may be able to cure what ails you.
- Fire cupping - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
- Fire cupping is a method of applying acupressure by creating a vacuum next to the patient's skin. In traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) it involves placing glass, plastic, or bamboo cups on the skin with a vacuum. The therapy is used to relieve what is called "stagnation" in TCM terms, and is used in the treatment of respiratory diseases such as the common cold, pneumonia, and bronchitis. Cupping is also used to treat back, neck, shoulder, and other musculoskeletal pain. Its advocates claim it has other applications as well. This technique, in varying forms, has also been found in the folk medicine of Vietnam, the Balkans and modern Greece, among other places.
- Massage Cupping
- Massage cupping is an exciting modern adaptation of the ancient art of cupping therapy. Cupping is a subtle, yet powerful addition to any healthcare practice and complements many healing modalities.
- cupping
- Cupping is a method of treatment used in traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) that involves heating the air inside a cup and placing the inverted cup on some part of the body.
- Cupping
- Cupping is a therapy in which a jar is attached to the skin surface to cause local congestion through the negative pressure created by introducing heat in the form of an ignited material. In the ancient times in China, cupping method was called " horn method. "
See How Cupping Can Be Done
Cupping History and Instruction
Cupping Commentary
sharing your cupping experiences
If you've had cupping done for a medical condition, please share your experience with other readers! Do you find you like the deep tissue manipulation or the pressure? How do you feel about the marks that you get from being cupped? What parts of your body does this help you with the most, and for what physical ailments?
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PearlHowie
Nov 25, 2011 @ 3:41 pm | delete
- I;ve had it and it hurt like nothing else - sorry but I'd never try it again!
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intermarks
Oct 25, 2011 @ 12:03 am | delete
- I saw other doing cupping before, but I never try it on myself. I believe it works for some muscles related problem, but when look at the mark after doing it, I need to rethink about it and make myself brave enough to try it. LOL
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chiactivate
Aug 24, 2011 @ 1:36 pm | delete
- very informative! i love cupping!
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kroppia-kiropraktor-massage
Jul 22, 2011 @ 5:44 am | delete
- I I tried cupping several years ago and I must say that they were very effective against my sore muscles. For more sore the day after, but after two days quite well. Thank you for sharing your experience at all.
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chefspecial
Jul 3, 2011 @ 5:49 am | delete
- Cupping is awesome. My acupuncturist taught me how to do it at home.
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Learn About Cupping
Professional Guide To Cupping Therapy
Amazon Price: (as of 02/15/2012)
Although most often done by acupuncturists, cupping is something that isn't difficult to learn and can be done at home.
Buy Fire Cups
Fire Cup Glass Jars - Set of 3 - Small, Medium & Large - 1 Each
Amazon Price: $36.49 (as of 02/15/2012)
These different-sized fire cups are the same glass ones used by health care professionals and are a better choice than improvising with jars or other home-found vessels.
