Just like acupuncture, cupping is a part of Oriental medicine that offers a pleasant experience to patients. Before its establishment as an official therapeutic practice in China in the 1950s, cupping had been practiced as an auxiliary method in traditional Chinese surgery. This method is recently growing in popularity with many celebrities drawing public attention to cupping therapy in Houston.

What is Chinese Cupping

This therapy involves the use of small glass cups or bamboo jars as suction devices placed on the ski in order to disperse and break up congestion and stagnation. It works by drawing congested blood and energy to the surface. Cupping can be dry or wet. Dry cupping involves putting the suction cups on the skin while wet cupping includes making a small incision on the skin and applying the suction cup to draw out small amounts of blood.

To create the suction in the cups, the therapist may swab rubbing alcohol onto the bottom of the cup, light it, and put the cup against the skin right away. Also, the therapist may put an inverted cup over a small flame or use an alcohol-soaked cotton pad over an insulating material to protect the skin, light the pad, and put an empty cup over the flame to extinguish it.  After creating suction, they can move the cups gently across the skin. In some cases, the therapist may apply medical massage oils to improve the glass cups’ movement along the skin.  Once suction, the cup is often left in place for around tend minutes as the patient relaxes.

Cupping and Acupuncture

In general, cupping is combined with acupuncture in one treatment; however, it can also be used alone. Cupping offers suction and negative pressure that can loosen muscles, sedate the nervous system, and encourage blood flow. It is used for relieving back and neck pains, anxiety, rheumatism, stiff muscles, and migraines.

As with acupuncture, cupping follows the lines of meridians. The back has five meridian lines in which the cups are often placed. Using these points, cupping can help in aligning and relaxing Qi. As it targets the meridian channels, the practice opens these energy channels, allowing energy to flow freely throughout the body. Cupping is believed to impact tissues up to 4 inches deep from the external skin. It can release toxins, clear blockages, as well as refreshes the arteries and veins within these affected materials.