Cupping is an ancient technique used in Traditional Chinese Medicine to help against modern life induced strains.

“Where there’s stagnation, there will be pain. Remove the stagnation, and you remove the pain.”

The suction and negative pressure provided by cupping can loosen muscles, encourage blood flow, and sedate the nervous system (which makes it an excellent treatment for high blood pressure). This technique is used to relieve back and neck pains, stiff muscles, anxiety, fatigue, migraines, rheumatism, and even cellulite.

What does it do to your body?

Cupping can direct the blood flow to a region to stimulate healing supporting anti-inflammatory reactions. It is effective at stretching tight fascia and muscles.

How long does it take for the marks to disappear?

The colouring typically ranges from bright red to a darker purple, and can last from 3 days to a week. A darker colouring means that there is a high level of blood stagnation and metabolites in the section of the body that has been treated. In this case, the marks can last for up to 3 weeks.

While cupping therapy is very safe, your therapist may choose not to give you treatment under certain conditions. When you come in for a consultation, your therapist will ask questions to rule out medical issues such as:

• Pregnancy and menstruation
• Skin conditions like dermatoses, skin allergies, injuries, and lesions
• Conditions of uncontrolled bleeding like in haemophilia, leukaemia, and blood spots on the skin caused by allergies.
• Heart disease
• Kidney disease or failure
• Hernia
• Slipped disc
• Cancer
• Varicose veins, among others
• Excessive body hair

Three types of cupping  practice:

SLIDE CUPPING: The cups can be gently moved across the skin with massage oil applied to the skin to improve movement of the cups along the skin. The suction in the cups causes the skin and superficial muscle layer to be lightly drawn into the cup. Cupping is much like the inverse of massage – rather than applying pressure to muscles, it uses gentle pressure to pull them upward. For most patients, this is a particularly relaxing and relieving sensation.

FLASH CUPPING: The cup is left in targeted trigger points or knotted muscle areas for a short burst of time to promote relief through pressure.

STATIC CUPPING: Static cupping is as it sounds, the cups are placed on specific points depending on the treatment required. For 10-20 minutes

To book your Cupping massage with Ellie call us on 0191 296 0567