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Cupping- The Ancient Remedy

Cupping therapy has been around since ancient times, from the ancient Greeks and Romans, through the Alexandrians and Byzantines, then passed on to the Muslim Arabs and Persians. Cupping therapy is when cups can be applied to any part of the body where the skin surface is level, smooth and fleshy enough to permit a firm seal. These parts include the neck, temples, forehead, back, chest, abdomen, hips, buttocks, thighs, knees, and calves. The cups can be made of:

  • bamboo,

  • toughened plastic

  • glass, or

  • silicone



Types of Cupping

There are different types of cupping techniques. They vary in the treatment methods and the goals of the practitioner, types of cups used and region that the practitioner has been taught.


Stationary cupping. The cup is placed on in the desired location and left on in the same spot for ten to fifteen minutes. Several cups may be applied in a single treatment.


Flash cupping, a series of cups are applied and quickly popped off in rapid succession. This creates a stimulating effect that's a lot like pinching and pulling the flesh in massage.


Cupping massage, the area to be treated is covered with oil, this allows the cups, once applied, to be moved around while still maintaining a suction bond.

Wet cupping (Hijama) is a form of cupping where the therapist first makes small scratches on the skin’s surface. After the scratches have been made, the cups are re-applied to the surface of the skin using suction. The pressure of the suction then extracts the blood which has accumulated.




How Cupping Works

Traditional healers have long recognized the association between pain and conditions of congestion, stagnation and blockage.


"Where there's stagnation, there will be pain. Remove the stagnation, and you remove the pain."

Not only pain, but the vast majority of all illness and disease comes from stagnation, congestion and blockage - of energy (qi, prana, vital force), blood, phlegm or lymph. The suction applied by cupping breaks up that congestion, stagnation, or blockage, restoring free flow.



Benefits of cupping:

  • Improves blood flow & circulation

  • Helps with arrhythmias and coronary artery disease

  • Improve heart rate variability

  • Lowers blood pressure

  • Reduces headaches, migraines, and fainting

  • Removes toxic metabolites in the blood

  • Reduces oxidative stress

  • Lowers cholesterol

  • Reduces Inflammation

  • Improves platelet count

  • Assists with joint pain, rheumatism, lumbago and arthritis

  • Improves immune health

  • Reduces cortisol levels

  • Improves coughs, trouble breathing (dyspnea) and asthma

  • Assists with both male and female fertility

  • Improves sleep quality

  • Combats pain associated with cancer, arthritis, exercise, muscle soreness, neck, lower back, whole body, childbirth & toothaches

  • Prevent anti-aging effects

  • Clears congestion and help treat asthma, bronchitis & colds & flu

  • Improves varicose veins and spider veins

  • Helps the body detoxify

  • Assists with pain relief

  • Helps the nervous system eliminate any congestion in the brain

  • Improves muscle function Increases range of motion

  • Assists with menstrual pain, suppressed or irregular menses

  • Improves nausea and vomiting

  • Assists with the herpes virus

  • Improves facial paralysis

  • Improves skin & hair

  • Reduces stress, anxiety & depression

  • Assists with insomnia and narcolepsy

  • Improves digestion & digestive disorders, appetite, constipation, ulcers, diarrhea & irritable bowel syndrome (IBS)

  • Helps with weight loss & cellulite

  • Encourages tissues to release toxins

  • Reduces stretch marks and scars

  • Restores lymphatic circulation and helps remove edema (excess fluid)

  • Balances the nervous system

  • Local application for back pain, arthritis, traumatic injuries, lumbago, sciatica

  • Treats fatigue and weakness in the body

  • Assists with fever

  • Aids in preventing liver diseases


Conditions that cupping may help with:

  • Acanthosis Nigricans

  • Autoimmune diseases

  • Acute Trigeminal Neuralgia

  • Addison’s Disease

  • Ankylosing Spondylitis

  • Carpal tunnel

  • Cervical Radiculopathy

  • Cervical Spondylosis

  • Cold Agglutinin Disease

  • Chronic Fatigue

  • Diabetes

  • Epilepsy

  • Fibromyalgia

  • Grave’s Disease

  • Gout

  • Goodpasture’s Syndrome

  • Hashimoto’s thyroiditis

  • Lupus

  • Pernicious Anemia

  • Multiple Sclerosis

  • Myasthenia Gravis

  • Plantar Fasciitis

  • Rheumatoid Arthritis

  • Scleroderma





Always find a qualified cupping practitioner to complete your treatment.

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