What is Cupping?
Cupping is a type of alternative therapy that originated
in China. It involves placing cups on the skin to create suction. The suction
facilitates healing with blood flow, as well as the flow of “qi” in the body.
Qi is a Chinese word meaning life force.
Cupping increases blood circulation to the area where the
cups are placed. This can relieve muscle tension, which can improve overall
blood flow and promote cell repair. It can also help form new connective
tissues and create new blood vessels in the tissue. People use cupping to complement
their care for a host of ailments and conditions.
What is the link
between Cupping and Alzheimer’s?
This linking between Alzheimer’s Disease and Cupping
Therapy is offered based on two premises:
* Our systems need detoxification because we have been
ingesting toxins and metals placed in our water, food, and directly deep into
muscle tissue through inoculations with vaccines.
* The Cupping Therapy is available to help flushing our
bodily fluids clean and reduce the chances of developing Alzheimer's later in
life as these poisons accumulate and kill brain tissue.
What are the
Health Benefits of the Fire Cupping Therapy?
The Fire Cupping Therapy has been in use in traditional
Chinese medicine for some 2300 years in China: an early recorded use was by the
Taoist alchemist and herbalist, Ge Hong (281-341 A.D.). We call it 'Fire
Cupping therapy" because the procedure uses both fire and round glass
balls shaped like fish bowls. This treatment is based on introducing a flame to
create a vacuum in the balls. The negative pressure makes the glass cups adhere
to the skin's surface, drawing up a patch of skin and superficial muscle tissue
as well as attracting blood and lymph fluids to the site in large quantities.
Once in place, a towel is placed over the patient's back; the cups stay in
place for about ten minutes.
Blood saturates the tissue beneath the cups. This is
especially useful over 'knots' in sore, tired, aching muscles where the blood
has been squeezed out of the muscle through tension. This newly gathered
oxygenated blood bathes the muscle deep to its core, lubricating fibers and
contributing to the healing of the tissue. Lymph removes the painful build-up
of lactic acid in the tired muscles also. These physiological changes brought
about by cupping decrease tension in the muscle and restore blood, thereby
relaxing it. There is a stimulating effect on the overall immune system created
by this therapy as well as increased energy.
The cups get plopped on your back over pre-selected
acupuncture points causing a reddening of the skin. Then more cups are put in
place, six or more, and they can be moved around. Performed by acupuncturists
in combination with acupressure massage, herbal cream allows the cups to be
'glided' across the back. Fire cupping therapy has the reputation of being the
cure for the common cold. The way it works is that the suction stimulates the
acupuncture points and meridians of your body similar to the way acupuncture
needles work for the points and meridians, but with no risk of infection by
needles.
This ancient therapy of the Ming Dynasty can be used to
massage other parts of the body; the cups can slide and glide along the oiled
skin, transferring tissue inside the cups as they are moved. This has a similar
effect to a deep-tissue massage, but from the inside-out…it relaxes the muscles
and restores the function of your internal organs. Moving the bodily fluids
around in such a way assists in the overall detoxifying of the system. Vacuum
cupping is especially effective at rejuvenating and cleansing the bladder and
liver.
Cupping is mainly used for the treatment of pain,
gastro-intestinal disorders, and lung diseases like chronic cough and asthma.
It is even more effective when used in combination with other types of massage
therapy. Cupping therapy can also be used to promote digestion through the
large colon. Cups placed strategically over the ascending, transverse,
descending and sigmoid colon stimulate a process called peristalsis.
Peristalsis requires a large quantity of blood to propel food matter through
the digestive tract's muscular walls.
Peristalsis shuts down if there isn't enough blood
available and food is left to accumulate instead of passing along the digestive
tract, causing blockages. This condition is brought about by stress. Stress
automatically shunts blood from the body's organs in the core of the body to
the arms and legs via the fight or flight mechanism during emergencies. This
primitive survival technique helped us when we were hunters and gatherers but
in modern time our bodies cannot recognize and detect real emergencies. They
shunt blood to the extremities of the body during perceived 'emergencies' like
if we are late for work, agitated about a love relationship, frustrated about
money etc.
Because life in this modern age creates many stressors,
the organ tissues in the core of our body are left bereft of blood and do not
perform the way they are supposed to. Restoring blood to the colon, therefore,
stimulates the digestive system to function normally once more. Cupping can
promote the respiratory system and the reproductive system as well as the
immune system. As person given a proper fire cupping treatment will feel
wonderful afterward and more energetic for many days. Practitioners are getting
easier to find all the time, as many traditional therapists have immigrated to
North America from China skilled in this art.
What does a person
feel during or after Cupping?
Cupping can be mildly or moderately painful. The degree
of pain varies from person to person and the location of cupped areas on the
same body. The sensation of pricking with needle (lancet) during cupping is
quite similarly to insect bites. Post cupping symptoms varies between persons
which include feeling relieved after cupping, feeling dizzy/weak/tired or not
much sensation.
Side Effects
Cupping is safe, as long as you go to a trained health
professional. But you could have these side effects in the area where the cups
touch your skin:
·
Mild discomfort
·
Burns
·
Bruises
·
Skin infection
What is the
frequency of Cupping?
* Critical disease: e.g. stroke victims - 3 consecutive days
and then weekly, preferably to be done within 72 hours of onset of stroke.
* Serious disease: e.g. high blood pressure, diabetes,
heart problem, asthma, high cholesterol, kidney malfunction, liver malfunction,
and early Alzheimer’s stages – weekly for few months.
* Mild disease: e.g. fever, cough, muscular pain – every
3 to 7 days until get relieve.
Sources and
Additional Information:
