Cupping and Scrape and Pinch Therapy.
What is Cupping? Cupping is an ancient traditional medicine therapy in which a cup is applied to the skin and the pressure in the cup is reduced (either by heat or suction) in order to draw and hold skin and superficial muscles inside the cup.
The therapy was used throughout the world, and like all these techniques it is impossible to be precise exactly where it started.
Cupping allows us in a simple manner to affect the body and can be an integral part of treatment for a great many diseases. Sometimes, while the suction is active, the cup is moved, causing the skin and muscle to be pulled. This is called gliding cupping.
Cupping is applied to certain acupuncture points as well as to parts of the body that have been affected by pain, where the pain is deeper than the tissues to be pulled. Cupping has greater emphasis on the back in acupuncture due to the ease with which it can be performed on the back.
Most practitioners use the back shu points or bladder meridian and the dazhui. Cupping was frequently used after acupuncture, blood letting, or plum blossom treatment (a form of mild bloodletting with a five pointed little hammer) .
Cupping is usually based on the meridian theory of the body.
On one hand, cupping removes any stagnation (lack of proper chi flow) in the body and opens the meridians so that qi (life energy) can flow freely. On the other hand, it also helps to rejuvenate certain meridians and organs that are not functioning at their best.
In other words the same diagnostic techniques apply as to the other branches of Oriental medicine when applying cupping, scrape or other techniques. From a more Western scientific standpoint, cupping is known to help activate the lymphatic system, promote blood circulation, and is good for deep tissue repair.
Books on cupping and scrape therapy are in short supply and often not very informative from my observations and can be very overpriced, but cheap DVD’s are available from China which can help you.
There are a few workshops here and there but usually way overpriced too and whether good or bad is hard to know. If you have pots of money then many courses in alternative or in orthodox health could help you at least a little, but if not then the good news is that you can learn an awful lot by yourself (although it takes time and some effort of course as everything does).
The Cupping Process Originally a lighted taper or cigarette lighter was used to create a partial vacuum in the cup but nowadays most people use the valve system and a small pump to create suction.
The heat method can sometimes cause slight burns when things go wrong but is usually considered to give a better result than the pump method. With heat you have to be careful not to overheat the cup and this takes a bit of experience but it is easy enough.
Glass cups are generally used for cupping, although bamboo cups are also used. Glass cups are nowadays often fitted with a valve that attaches to a small hand-operated pump, allowing the practitioner to suck out air without having to rely on fire to depressurise the cup first.
It also gives them greater control over the amount of suction. The modern name for cupping is baguanfa or suction cup therapy. Using the suction valve variety of cupping is less risky as no fire is involved but to tell the truth probably less effective.
In order to allow the cups to move over the skin easily, oil is often used. Oils that have been infused with extracts of medicinal herbs that push Chi and blood are particularly useful. The cups are applied at room temperature, and there is some friction generated with moving cups, causing a small but significant amount of heat, especially if a warming oil is also used.
Cups are generally left in place for ten minutes although the time can range from five to fifteen minutes. The skin will redden due to the congestion of blood flow. The cup is removed from the skin by pressing the skin on one side, allowing some outside air to enter and thus equalise the pressure. Some bruising on the skin where the rim of the cup was is to be expected.
What Cupping Can Help Cupping is generally recommended for the treatment of pain, gastrointestinal disorders, lung diseases (especially chronic cough and asthma), and paralysis, although it does have application for mostother problems.
It is good for cold diseases which block Chi flow and actually for a lot of diseases, but like everything the diagnostic knowledge is the main thing.
Cupping should be done on fleshy areas of the body and should not be used on inflamed skin, where there is a high fever, convulsions or an increased tendency to bruise, or on the abdominal areaor lower back area during pregnancy. The cups should only be moved over fleshy areas of the body.
Cupping can affect the body up to four inches into the tissues, causing the tissues to release toxins, activate the lymphatic system, clear colon blockages, activate and clear the veins, arteries and capillaries, activate the skin, clear stretch marks, and improve the appearance of varicose veins.
Various prescriptions for treatment exist in books and ebooks and on DVD’s for cupping for various diseases and syndromes, and your own experience also eventually kicks in as to what procedures are indicated. If you can find a skilled practitioner to teach you these things it is very good but that can be hard to do.
Like other simple techniques cupping is often undervalued in comparison to other treatments such as herbs or acupuncture or drugs but it can do a lot for many problems if you know how to use it. Don’t underestimate simple solutions. Like everything else watch out for the contraindications!
Sets of cups of various sophistications are cheap enough on ebay. The best sets tend to come from Korea. The cheapest is not always best.
Scrape therapy.
Like cupping, scrape therapy is another widely known traditional technique, nowadays most often associated with China, which can work wonders for many conditions. You can use an ordinary Chinese soup spoon edge, or an Ox horn blade or a Jade blade etc for scraping various parts of the body. The Ox horn and Jade blades in sets are available cheaply enough on ebay.
Again there seem to be few books available on this subject of Scrape Therapy, and you are unlikely to find much in public libraries on these subjects from what I have seen, but cheap Chinese DVD’s on ebay are available to help you get started.
Similar acupoints are used as in Cupping and Acupuncture for many diseases, but scrape therapy also has a few differences. Once the body is scraped along a meridian or on a single point you often get Shwa or what looks like measles or bruising come up on the skin.
In a healthy person this Shwa is limited or non-existent, or in a serious disease it can be very pronounced and purplish for example. The extent and character of the Shwa can say a lot about the body condition. Of course as the patients gets better (or worse) the character of the Shwa changes, so it is also a diagnostic tool.
You can scrape as above using meridians such as the bladder channel or on certain acupoints known to have certain effects, but also just on various obvious parts of the body or certain muscles or along the ribs and similar approaches for various ailments.
Actually the meridian system’s absence in most Western approaches is a main distinguishing point between Oriental and Western derived health systems. Even some Oriental systems such as some forms of Japanese Shiatsu leave the meridian system out of their calculations.
Scrape pressure has to be adjusted for which patient and which part of the body, but it usually has some slight pain from the scraping. After all we are scraping the skin. However be careful you do not overdo it, there should not be anything more than mild discomfort at times. Checking with the patient now and again is useful to avoid causing too much pain.
Another point is we are scraping not puncturing the skin, but still we must be mindful of the slight possibility of allowing infection to get into the body. We should use a medicated swab to rub down the skin on the area to be scraped as a precaution before and sometimes after scraping too. Of course that is not a total guarantee against infection, so the key is not to overdo the scraping, so it is safer.
Massage Oil is often applied when scraping, often if available containing herbs for pushing circulation and Chi, but you can still do scrape therapy without the oil.
Pinching Therapy.
Pinching is a technique also developed independently and used in bioenergetic therapy by Wilhelm Reich, and common in Chinese Medicine also, pinching helps to move energy through various blocks.
By pinching near the sternum we can relieve heart blocks, in the inner elbow crease allow energy to move into the hands and so on. Again a simple technique which can dramatically relieve blockages. Of course here we are talking about energy blockages.
Again pinching is a bit of a painful technique, you have to use common sense as to how much, but it does hurt a bit.
What is Cupping? Cupping is an ancient traditional medicine therapy in which a cup is applied to the skin and the pressure in the cup is reduced (either by heat or suction) in order to draw and hold skin and superficial muscles inside the cup.
The therapy was used throughout the world, and like all these techniques it is impossible to be precise exactly where it started.
Cupping allows us in a simple manner to affect the body and can be an integral part of treatment for a great many diseases. Sometimes, while the suction is active, the cup is moved, causing the skin and muscle to be pulled. This is called gliding cupping.
Cupping is applied to certain acupuncture points as well as to parts of the body that have been affected by pain, where the pain is deeper than the tissues to be pulled. Cupping has greater emphasis on the back in acupuncture due to the ease with which it can be performed on the back.
Most practitioners use the back shu points or bladder meridian and the dazhui. Cupping was frequently used after acupuncture, blood letting, or plum blossom treatment (a form of mild bloodletting with a five pointed little hammer) .
Cupping is usually based on the meridian theory of the body.
On one hand, cupping removes any stagnation (lack of proper chi flow) in the body and opens the meridians so that qi (life energy) can flow freely. On the other hand, it also helps to rejuvenate certain meridians and organs that are not functioning at their best.
In other words the same diagnostic techniques apply as to the other branches of Oriental medicine when applying cupping, scrape or other techniques. From a more Western scientific standpoint, cupping is known to help activate the lymphatic system, promote blood circulation, and is good for deep tissue repair.
Books on cupping and scrape therapy are in short supply and often not very informative from my observations and can be very overpriced, but cheap DVD’s are available from China which can help you.
There are a few workshops here and there but usually way overpriced too and whether good or bad is hard to know. If you have pots of money then many courses in alternative or in orthodox health could help you at least a little, but if not then the good news is that you can learn an awful lot by yourself (although it takes time and some effort of course as everything does).
The Cupping Process Originally a lighted taper or cigarette lighter was used to create a partial vacuum in the cup but nowadays most people use the valve system and a small pump to create suction.
The heat method can sometimes cause slight burns when things go wrong but is usually considered to give a better result than the pump method. With heat you have to be careful not to overheat the cup and this takes a bit of experience but it is easy enough.
Glass cups are generally used for cupping, although bamboo cups are also used. Glass cups are nowadays often fitted with a valve that attaches to a small hand-operated pump, allowing the practitioner to suck out air without having to rely on fire to depressurise the cup first.
It also gives them greater control over the amount of suction. The modern name for cupping is baguanfa or suction cup therapy. Using the suction valve variety of cupping is less risky as no fire is involved but to tell the truth probably less effective.
In order to allow the cups to move over the skin easily, oil is often used. Oils that have been infused with extracts of medicinal herbs that push Chi and blood are particularly useful. The cups are applied at room temperature, and there is some friction generated with moving cups, causing a small but significant amount of heat, especially if a warming oil is also used.
Cups are generally left in place for ten minutes although the time can range from five to fifteen minutes. The skin will redden due to the congestion of blood flow. The cup is removed from the skin by pressing the skin on one side, allowing some outside air to enter and thus equalise the pressure. Some bruising on the skin where the rim of the cup was is to be expected.
What Cupping Can Help Cupping is generally recommended for the treatment of pain, gastrointestinal disorders, lung diseases (especially chronic cough and asthma), and paralysis, although it does have application for mostother problems.
It is good for cold diseases which block Chi flow and actually for a lot of diseases, but like everything the diagnostic knowledge is the main thing.
Cupping should be done on fleshy areas of the body and should not be used on inflamed skin, where there is a high fever, convulsions or an increased tendency to bruise, or on the abdominal areaor lower back area during pregnancy. The cups should only be moved over fleshy areas of the body.
Cupping can affect the body up to four inches into the tissues, causing the tissues to release toxins, activate the lymphatic system, clear colon blockages, activate and clear the veins, arteries and capillaries, activate the skin, clear stretch marks, and improve the appearance of varicose veins.
Various prescriptions for treatment exist in books and ebooks and on DVD’s for cupping for various diseases and syndromes, and your own experience also eventually kicks in as to what procedures are indicated. If you can find a skilled practitioner to teach you these things it is very good but that can be hard to do.
Like other simple techniques cupping is often undervalued in comparison to other treatments such as herbs or acupuncture or drugs but it can do a lot for many problems if you know how to use it. Don’t underestimate simple solutions. Like everything else watch out for the contraindications!
Sets of cups of various sophistications are cheap enough on ebay. The best sets tend to come from Korea. The cheapest is not always best.
Scrape therapy.
Like cupping, scrape therapy is another widely known traditional technique, nowadays most often associated with China, which can work wonders for many conditions. You can use an ordinary Chinese soup spoon edge, or an Ox horn blade or a Jade blade etc for scraping various parts of the body. The Ox horn and Jade blades in sets are available cheaply enough on ebay.
Again there seem to be few books available on this subject of Scrape Therapy, and you are unlikely to find much in public libraries on these subjects from what I have seen, but cheap Chinese DVD’s on ebay are available to help you get started.
Similar acupoints are used as in Cupping and Acupuncture for many diseases, but scrape therapy also has a few differences. Once the body is scraped along a meridian or on a single point you often get Shwa or what looks like measles or bruising come up on the skin.
In a healthy person this Shwa is limited or non-existent, or in a serious disease it can be very pronounced and purplish for example. The extent and character of the Shwa can say a lot about the body condition. Of course as the patients gets better (or worse) the character of the Shwa changes, so it is also a diagnostic tool.
You can scrape as above using meridians such as the bladder channel or on certain acupoints known to have certain effects, but also just on various obvious parts of the body or certain muscles or along the ribs and similar approaches for various ailments.
Actually the meridian system’s absence in most Western approaches is a main distinguishing point between Oriental and Western derived health systems. Even some Oriental systems such as some forms of Japanese Shiatsu leave the meridian system out of their calculations.
Scrape pressure has to be adjusted for which patient and which part of the body, but it usually has some slight pain from the scraping. After all we are scraping the skin. However be careful you do not overdo it, there should not be anything more than mild discomfort at times. Checking with the patient now and again is useful to avoid causing too much pain.
Another point is we are scraping not puncturing the skin, but still we must be mindful of the slight possibility of allowing infection to get into the body. We should use a medicated swab to rub down the skin on the area to be scraped as a precaution before and sometimes after scraping too. Of course that is not a total guarantee against infection, so the key is not to overdo the scraping, so it is safer.
Massage Oil is often applied when scraping, often if available containing herbs for pushing circulation and Chi, but you can still do scrape therapy without the oil.
Pinching Therapy.
Pinching is a technique also developed independently and used in bioenergetic therapy by Wilhelm Reich, and common in Chinese Medicine also, pinching helps to move energy through various blocks.
By pinching near the sternum we can relieve heart blocks, in the inner elbow crease allow energy to move into the hands and so on. Again a simple technique which can dramatically relieve blockages. Of course here we are talking about energy blockages.
Again pinching is a bit of a painful technique, you have to use common sense as to how much, but it does hurt a bit.
It looks like the ever inventive Thais have developed elephant massage in recent times.
Not sure if I would recommend it though, looks a bit doubtful doesn't it. Especially with the second elephant hurrying along to join in.
Not sure if I would recommend it though, looks a bit doubtful doesn't it. Especially with the second elephant hurrying along to join in.
All sorts of charts exist to help with sorting out problems, including meridian charts, reflexology and Sujok correspondence charts, Shiatsu charts and others.
What looks complex later becomes relatively simple, as with any field of human endeavour, after you have studied and practiced a bit.
What looks complex later becomes relatively simple, as with any field of human endeavour, after you have studied and practiced a bit.