Resources

Cupping:

Cupping refers to an ancient Chinese practice in which a cup is applied to the skin and the pressure in the cup is reduced (by using change in heat or by suctioning out air), so that the skin and superficial muscle layer is drawn into and held in the cup. In some cases, the cup may be moved while the suction of skin is active, causing a regional pulling of the skin and muscle (the technique is called gliding cupping).

This treatment has some relation to certain massage techniques, such as the rapid skin pinching along the back that is an important aspect of tuina). In that practice, the skin is pinched, sometimes at specific points (e.g., bladder meridian points), until a redness is generated. Cupping is applied by acupuncturists to certain acupuncture points, as well as to regions of the body that are affected by pain (where the pain is deeper than the tissues to be pulled). When the cups are moved along the surface of the skin, the treatment is somewhat like guasha (literally, sand scraping), a folk remedy of southeast Asia which is often carried out by scraping the skin with a coin or other object with the intention of breaking up stagnation.

Movement of the cups is a gentler technique than guasha, as a lubricant allows the cup to slide without causing as much of the subcutaneous bruising that is an objective of guasha. Still, a certain amount of bruising is expected both from fixed position cupping (especially at the site of the cup rim) and with movement of the cups.

Traditional cupping, with use of heated cups, also has some similarity to moxibustion therapy. Heating of the cups was the method used to obtain suction: the hot air in the cups has a low density and, as the cups cool with the opening sealed by the skin, the pressure within the cups declines, sucking the skin into it. In this case, the cups are hot and have a stimulating effect something like that of burning moxa wool.

Gua Sha:

Gua Sha is a healing technique used in Asia by practitioners of Traditional Medicine, in both the clinical setting and in homes, but little known in the West. It involves palpation and cutaneous stimulation where the skin is pressured, in strokes, by a round-edged instrument; that results in the appearance of small red petechiae called 'sha', that will fade in 2 to 3 days.

Raising Sha removes blood stagnation considered pathogenic, promoting normal circulation and metabolic processes.The patient experiences immediate relief from pain, stiffness, fever, chill, cough, nausea, and so on. Gua Sha is valuable in the prevention and treatment of acute infectious illness, upper respiratory and digestive problems, and many other acute or chronic disorders.

Moxa:

This involves the use of an herb, mainly artemisia vulgaris. The dried 'wool' of this herb is burned close to specific acupuncture points. This method is essential for the treatment of hypotonic conditions caused by coldness and deficiency and is highly effective. Moxabustion is highly effective for stimulating the immune system, promoting circulation, adding vital energy directly into the meridians and neurological pathways of the body and relieving pain.

In most cases the experience is highly pleasurable and, like acupuncture, induces a state of calm relaxation in the patient. Occasionally, but very rarely, a patient may develop a burn or blister from the treatment. Because the treatment is often quite pleasant and relaxing, this result may not always be predicted by either the patient in their response or the practitioner. While burning and blistering is generally not intended, without previous consultation with the patient at the East West Clinic, it sometimes, though as stated, very rarely occurs.

As a point of information, in China a strong moxabustion treatment often involves intentionally burning and blistering a particular point or area for the treatment of stubborn diseases. Interestingly, again in China, when a blister occurs it is controlled but allowed to stay open and festering for awhile to further stimulant an even deeper, more prolonged immune response.