Cupping
What is cupping?
Cupping therapy is useful for reducing pain. Glass, plastic, or bamboo cups are applied to the body by creating vacuum pressure. At Vital Balance Acupuncture we use glass cups and create a vacuum with a hand held pump. This allows the provider to adjust the pressure of the cups to a comfortable level. If necessary, the provider may apply the cup by using an alcohol torch to consume the oxygen in the glass cup to create the vacuum. This also warms the cup similar to a hot stone massage and is helpful to treat pain that feels better with heat. This method is called flash cupping.
How does cupping help to reduce pain?
The negative pressure from the vacuum suction at specific body sites stretches the tissue locally. This causes an increase in capillary damage which stimulates the immune system to stimulate blood circulation.
- This stretching function also aids at restoring normal morphological function to a specific area by pulling adhesive scar tissue apart.
- Finally, the negative pressure from the vacuum pulls blood through the capillaries of the skin which enhances the skin’s detoxifying function.
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More on Cupping
How does cupping work? With the publicity that cupping has received from professional athletes like Michael Phelps, I’m often asked in clinic “How does cupping work?”[1] Clearly, when you create a vacuum around a muscle the tissue below will become stretched. As a...