A Bit About Cupping

We’ve been getting a bit of buzz in the clinic lately about cupping. The recent coverage of the Olympics has shown some athletes sporting dark circles that look like bruises over various joints and muscle groups. This raises questions, and sometimes eyebrows, in the public at large. The answers to the questions I get the most are: no, it doesn’t hurt (if you like massage you’ll like cupping) and; yes, it seems to help pain and recovery from certain types of injuries.

Cupping is performed by creating a state of partial vacuum within a special glass cup. This suction causes skin, muscle and connective tissue to be partially drawn up into the cup when it is placed on the body. The visible effect following cupping is a round bruise-like mark, like a hickey. What you can’t see, but can certainly feel, is the effect the therapy is having deeper in the body.

Most of us have experienced the discomfort of muscle knots. These are small areas of contraction within a muscle. We don’t always know why but sometimes a bundle of muscle fibers will get stuck and be unable to return to their full, relaxed length. These tight fibers can irritate and even squeeze on nerves causing the well-known discomfort. They can also squeeze the tiny blood vessels running around and through that part of the muscle. Now those muscle cells are getting less of the nutrients and oxygen they need from the blood and are also not having their cellular waste products removed as quickly. This is where something like cupping comes in handy. The action of the cupping brings a fresh infusion of circulation and pulls the tiny fibers apart and back into a better resting position. Much the same can be accomplished by a variety of other massage techniques and also by using trigger point acupuncture. Sometimes in the clinic we’ll use all these methods together to treat pain and tension. From the patient’s perspective it’s the outcome that matters and not so much the road taken to get there.

This is a very brief introduction to cupping. Cupping has a long history in both the formal medicine and the folk medicine of Asia and Europe and is routinely employed by traditional and complementary care providers for conditions beyond muscle tension. If you’re curious about whether cupping might help you feel free to contact us at the Blue Ridge Center for Chinese Medicine.