Cupping

Fire Cups

Therapeutic Cupping is the art of placing suction cups on Acupuncture points all over the body. The cups can be made from bamboo, glass or plastic. Mine are made of a very hard plastic with a suction valve on the top. Which I activate with a suction gun. This produces a small amount of suction to pull the cup onto the skin. The cups are left on for about 20 minutes and sometimes I draw them along the skin which I coat with a light oil such as Grapeseed. I use Cupping for treating many problems as an alternative to Acupuncture or with Acupuncture. And personally use it to treat colds and flu, stress and painful joints. I can treat painful periods with cupping although it is better with needles.

^{How is cupping used?}

^{A skilled Practitioner can vary the amount of suction produced by the cups to suit the patient. For instance you would not want to heavily cup an M.E. Patient but, a stressed, healthy Patient would be quite suitable. you can look like a giant Octopus attacked you when having fire cupping! This is normal with heavy cupping and may take a while to go but while the marks are visable the therapy is still progressing. This therapy has been a part of Chinese Medicine for thousands of years. It has also been part of many European folk medicines including England where it seems to have died out about 100 years ago. It is still used in Turkey and Poland. Mothers or Grandmothers use it to clear disease in their families.}

^{Did you know that Cupping was used a lot during the Olympics by Althletes from various teams. It is also used by Film Stars such as Gwyneth Paltrow.}