Fire, Suction and Back Pain Relief: Yes Really!
Fire Cupping is a safe and effective adjunct to acupuncture. It offers benefits hard to achieve in other modalities of Chinese Medicine and manual physical therapy, such as massage. In China, fire cupping is used on about two-thirds of all patients, yet is often underused here in the West. So what is Fire Cupping? It is the wafting of a flame into a glass cup to burn out the oxygen and create a vacuum; the cup is then placed on the skin and draws up the underlying tissue. This action increases local blood circulation, releases tight muscles to enable joints to move more freely. It is excellent on tight upper back muscles. I have seen fantastic results when using both cupping and acupuncture on Frozen Shoulder. On my website you can see the results on my patient after only two treatments. Her movement is much improved. The improvement in movement of her left arm was after two treatments.
Flash cupping can effectively and quickly relieve severe back muscle spasms. The photo shows a man having Flash Cupping to his back. The cups are placed quickly on and off in sequence down the back. It feels great! Other cupping methods include sliding the cup along muscles. So why is there reluctance to use cupping in the West? It’s not suitable for all patients. Those of a nervous character are fearful of the flame; it also leaves some very colourful marks (as blood is sometimes drawn out of local blood vessels), which can last for a week or more. This is all part of the healing process, but unless explained correctly, can be off-putting to the patient. Once experienced though, patients start asking for cupping because they know how effective it is. If you’ve got tight “computer-shoulders”, come in for a session and see what you think of the thousand year’s old tradition of Fire Cupping.
If you have any questions about the newsletter, my therapies or would like to contribute an article, please get in touch at tracey@essentialtherapia.com