Cupping Therapy For The Treatment Of Pain And Digestive & Immunity Issues

Until recently, the alternative therapeutic method known as cupping therapy has never been heard of by most people living in the West. In China, however, this therapy has been widely used since 1000 B.C. In fact, ancient documents show that some forms of cupping practices are significantly older, reaching as far back as 3000 B.C.

The popularity of cupping therapy has a slew of health benefits that often eclipse the therapies of Western modern medicine.

What Is Cupping Therapy?

The Chinese consider cupping therapy a unique healing technique that has been passed down from one generation to the next. According to ancient Chinese documents, cupping was a popular way to treat conditions of the elite and royals and was initially practiced by Taoist medical physicians.

Throughout the years, cupping therapists have successfully treated a wide range of diseases and symptoms including pinched nerves, muscle spasms, back pains, colds, pulmonary tuberculosis, and many more that couldn’t be cured by conventional therapies. It has also been traditionally used in patients with anemia and other blood disorders, and people suffering from mental illnesses, fertility problems, arthritis, and other rheumatic diseases.

Although the longest history of cupping used in Asian countries like Korea, Japan, and China, was with the use of heat, a somewhat identical technique known as “wet cupping” has also been used for hundreds of years in Middle Eastern countries. Cupping therapy has recently become increasingly popular in the U.S. and other Western countries, as certain physicians have begun including acupuncture and cupping into the treatment plan of their patients in order to naturally relieve chronic infections, congestions, and symptoms without the need for medications. These days, this healing practice is offered in several holistic health centers, massage parlors, and in clinics that offer Traditional Chinese Medicine treatments.

Promoters of cupping are confident that the method helps eliminate toxins and adverse substances from the body that, in turn, strengthens immunity.

Does Cupping Therapy Really Work?

 The Journal PLoS ONE published report in 2012 of a review involving 135 studies on cupping therapies featured between 1992 and 2010. The reviewers noted that cupping is more superior to the placebo effect because it produces positive results similar to herbal medicine and acupuncture in the treatment of a variety of inflammatory, hormonal, skin, and digestive diseases.

As with massage therapy and acupuncture in Walla Walla, one of the biggest advantages of trying cupping therapy over mainstream Western modalities is that these procedures are completely devoid of adverse unwanted side effects like surgery or pharmaceutical drugs do.

Actually, cupping and other alternative therapies have no downside to them since research has shown they can help strengthen immune function and cut down healing time without the use of herbs or drugs. The following are just some of the benefits provided by cupping therapy.

Five Cupping Therapy Benefits

As an alternative medical procedure, most of cupping therapy’s validity comes from its long history of use over the past three millennia. Cupping procedures have been extensively used to treat a wide spectrum of symptoms and disorders, either in combination with other alternative therapies or a standalone practice.

The use of cupping therapy is usually accompanied by acupuncture, essential oils, massage therapy, or even as a complementary treatment to Western medicine procedures.

Based on limited studies about cupping, what we do know is that it works by dilating the capillaries and boosting the amount of fluid coming in and out of the tissues. In addition, the therapy appears to trigger some form of relaxation response in some individuals, meaning it can help reduce unwanted effects.

Although we can find a mountain of anecdotal evidence that prove cupping is safe to use and works, there is scarce clinical evidence about its efficacy making it difficult to “prove” many of its benefits. Be that as it may, over the years, cupping has worked for millions of people. Below are some of the ways that cupping can be used to help you:

1. Cupping Has The Ability To Treat Colds And Respiratory Problems

Cupping therapy can help shorten healing time from respiratory diseases such as the common cold and flu as it’s commonly used to expel congestion or phlegm and help nourish the lungs. It can help enhance immune function by moving lymphatic fluid and blood throughout the body. This is because cupping has been known to treat lung diseases such as asthma infections, allergies and especially chronic coughs

One of the oldest applications of cupping therapy is in the treatment of pulmonary tuberculosis and other respiratory conditions long before prescription drugs came into being.

1. Cupping Helps Relieve Pain

Nowadays, people tend turn to alternative treatment methods because they’re looking for a safer way to reduce muscle pain and joint pain naturally. According to Evidence-Based Complimentary and Alternative Medicine, a report that reviewed scores of clinical randomized trials testing the efficacy of cupping therapy in patients with pain of any origin, showed that cupping reduced pain substantially in people suffering from low back aches and pains more so than the standard treatments for low back pain. Cupping therapy also brought about beneficial effects in the treatment of cancer pain compared to conventional painkillers and anticancer medications, and helped alleviate pain affiliated with respiratory diseases.

Cupping is believed to ease tight muscles and relax stiffness associated with fatigue, rheumatism, migraines, neck pains, and chronic back pains and release tissues deep within the body. Aside from boosting their performance in a natural way, some athletes have been known to receive cupping in order to lessen stiffness due to scar tissue caused by injuries, joint pains, and muscle cramps.

Cupping can treat soft tissue inflammation by administering local pressure to areas of swelling and sites of pain, increasing circulation in the capillaries and vessels. Cupping therapists utilize needles, suction, heat, and/or pressure below or above the area of injury, enabling chi or energy to move along the energy channels (meridians) that pass across the injury.

In order to reduce pain, the cups are usually applied over the following areas: around the lower back, on the neck (to relieve tension headaches over the fleshy part of the scapula or shoulder blades), and over the loins/groin.

1. Boosts Digestion

In Chinese medicine, cupping and acupuncture are the two most popular ways to alleviate symptoms and conditions like IBS or irritable bowel syndrome as well as to improve digestion. This is mainly due to the fact that the two modalities can lessen the stress response of a patient, which is very much connected to a healthy functioning digestive system.

Over the centuries, cupping therapy has been used by people suffering from water retention, gastrointestinal conditions, appetite loss, diarrhea, and frequent stomach pains. For problems related to the digestive system, cupping is usually administered in the following areas: over the abdomen, around the kidneys, over the bladder, and around the navel.

1. Enhances The Health Of The Skin

Although unknown to most people, cupping can actually be used to treat skin inflammation, acne, cellulite, and herpes. Although there is not enough clinical evidence to prove it can help people lose weight, what is known and proven is that cupping can firm and tone your skin by expanding the capillaries and increasing blood flow making it a closely guarded beauty secret among people in the spotlight and celebrities who want to have their skin toned naturally. As part of a cellulite or skin-clearing treatment, oil is initially often applied to the skin before the cups are suctioned and moved around, distributing heat to the treatment site along with various skin-healing substances based on the kind of oil used.

Since cupping helps reduce inflammation and improve blood flow, research has found it to be even more, or at least, as effective as antibiotics in treating acne. In a six study meta-analysis of acne treatment, the rate of cure of wet cupping therapy was superior to the rate of cure following use of ketoconazole, tetracycline, and tanshinone prescriptions.

1. Promotes Relaxation

This might appear counterintuitive, but since cupping has the ability to calm the central nervous system, it usually does relieve physical conditions and enables people to enter into a more relaxed state. This is the same with acupuncture, which people often assume is uncomfortable and hurts but actually appears to help reduce the patients’ stress levels and so can offer protection against depression and anxiety.

How can cupping generate relaxation in a person? During a cupping session, just the act of being “taken care of” and laying still can benefit a person’s psychological health, which could be why cupping is used to treat mental illnesses. The cups may need to remain attached to the body for around 20 minutes or so, once they are placed down and suctioned, which forces silence and stillness on patients who might otherwise lead frenetic lives. One other reason why cupping is relaxing is due to the fact that the cups help remove pressure in tight muscles, which produces a calming sensation just like being given a deep tissue massage.

The British Cupping Society believes that cupping therapy can safely treat a wide gamut of conditions that include:

• Cellulite and varicose veins
• Acne, eczema, herpes and other skin problems
• Respiratory infections
• Muscle stiffness and aches
• Tension headaches and migraine
• Depression, anxiety, and certain mental disorders
• Joint pain caused by fibromyalgia and arthritis
• Hypertension or high blood pressure
• Asthma and food allergies
• Gynecological disorders and infertility
• Blood disorders such as hemophilia and anemia

Cupping Therapy Is A Versatile Modality That’s Used for A Range of Techniques

The effects that occur in cupping therapy are designed to cleanse the body of waste materials and toxins and to eliminate disease from the body. The bruises appearing on the skin are not really bruises like injured skin tissue, but are of dead blood coming to the skin surface. The more therapy is applied on a certain area, the healthier and lighter it becomes. The redness in the treatment area increased blood circulation in the area promoting healing. The techniques of cupping are varied. Patients have discovered that the process releases the tissue so much faster than using the hands. If there is a body part that is tough, I practitioners will administer pump release technique to speed it along. Cupping is basically the best way to stimulate circulation aside from loosening fascia and moving lymph for a faster recovery.

Cupping Therapy is an amazing ancient procedure that has found its rightful place in the modern world of healing.  It is founded on the traditional way of performing Chinese cupping therapy, and the amazing outcomes that this facile and easy-to-perform treatment brings in have truly impressed patients who have felt its subtle power.

By generating negative pressure and suction, cupping therapy can be used to drain toxins and excess fluids by opening lymphatic pathways, soften tight muscles, tone attachments, increase blood flow and hydration to body tissues, lift connective tissue, and loosen adhesions. This modality has many applications and can be easily modified to accomplish a variety of techniques, from deep tissue release to lymphatic drainage. Cupping therapy can be used as an adjunct to several health modalities ranging from medical massage to spa treatments and physical therapy.

It makes the body feel invigorated and wakes it up whilst generating a deep sense of healing via the sedation of the nervous system.

Cupping therapy activates skin function by improving circulation while draining lymph and layers of fused tissue layers to produce a healthy skin glow and promote a smooth appearance.

It is designed to loosen adhesions and strengthen the muscles making it operate more independently and activate healthy excretion of built up debris in the systems, organs, and tissues.

History of Cupping

Over time, cupping therapy evolved from the initial use of hollowed out animal horns to remove toxins out of skin lesions and snakebites. The horns were eventually replaced with bamboo cups that were then replaced with glass. Healing applications progressed with the upgrade of the cup itself, and with the societies that used cupping as a health care procedure method. The real origins of cupping therapy remain a mystery.

The Chinese augmented its applications to include surgical use to deflect circulation from the site of surgery. Eventually, the process developed into a distinct therapy, with practitioners able to heal a gamut of conditions. Ancient documents dating back 28 A.D. states that with cupping and acupuncture in Cleveland, “more than 50 percent of illnesses can be cured”. Chinese medicine practitioners state that cupping clears chi and blood stagnation, and addresses external pathogenic elements that infiltrate a weak constitution. A deficient constitution is usually caused by an exhausted original essence or “Jing Chi”. This usually leads to a weakened defense (immune function) or“Wei Chi”.

The Egyptians gathered a number of documents on ancient medicine that talked about the use of cupping for conditions such as a weakened appetite, menstrual imbalances vertigo, pain, fever. The ancient Egyptians introduced cupping to ancient Greece, where it was eventually disseminated to ancient societies in many European countries and even in the States. Recently, American and European doctors use cupping in practice. Medical papers that were written in the 19th century and a combined effort between the former Soviet Union and communist China proved the clinical results of cupping therapy. In all Chinese hospitals, the technique became an official healing practice. For lactation problems and inflamed breasts, breast cupping became a treatment of choice for many people. The well-known breast pump was invented from this. As machines and technology came into use in the 20^th century, it led to a decline in interest in the use of this technique. Cupping sets were carried by medical supply companies well into the 1940?s and pumps were introduced that could create a vacuum.