What is Cupping and How Can it Help Me?

You might have heard of cupping before, but you also may not have. Like most types of alternative medicine and healing techniques, cupping has been around for an extremely long time but it wasn’t until a few years ago that it really came into vogue as a procedure that people seek out for various ailments. The cupping technique is actually in the oldest medical text ever found, showing that it was being used by the Egyptians in around 1500 BCE. But what exactly is it and how can it help you? Well, we’re here to clarify for you exactly how cupping works. 

There are two types of cupping that are used: wet cupping and dry cupping. Both methods are essentially the same except that wet cupping involves the removal of a small amount of blood from the cupped areas. That might sound intimidating, but don’t worry, it is much less scary than it sounds. The way that dry cupping works is to use cups, sometimes made of glass, bamboo, or silicone, to create a vacuum against your skin and draw blood to the area. This is done by heating the air inside the cup by burning something small and flammable in the cup and, when the flame dies, quickly placing the cup upside down, firmly against your skin. The hot air in the cup begins to cool and, as it does, the molecules move closer together, creating a vacuum that draws your skin up into the cup. The cup will usually remain suctioned to your skin for about three to five minutes before it is removed. Some practitioners will move the cups around on your skin with oil or lotion, creating more of a massaging effect. Wet cupping simply includes creating a small incision with a scalpel either before or after the cup is attached and releasing a small amount of blood from the suctioned area. Research does not substantiate the claim that there is much of difference between the two techniques but some claim that the wet technique releases more toxins from your body.

Despite the fact that this technique has been used for thousands of years, there is a bit of a lack of reliable research on the effects of cupping. Cupping is used to relieve sore muscles and increase circulation which can promote healing. As far as treatments go, most typically cupping is used to treat chronic back and neck pain. Due to limitations in performing a blind study regarding the effectiveness of cupping and the trouble with a lack of a convincing placebo, it’s difficult to say whether cupping truly produces the results it claims. Most people who receive cupping treatments, however, do report an improvement to their pain levels, and while we still don’t have definitive proof that there is no placebo effect involved in these results, an improvement to pain levels is surely something worth pursuing.

Another use of cupping is the treatment of chronic headaches. The improved blood flow and relief of muscle tension from cupping is said to help reduce the frequency and intensity of chronic headaches. Once again, research here is limited and hard to validate but the reported benefits are enough for most people who are suffering to seek treatment. 

Additionally, cupping is said to help with various skin conditions such as acne and herpes. As the vacuum effect of cupping draws blood to the skin, it allows the body to heal the body’s surface area better. These results are more easily tracked but, once again, research is not entirely reliable yet. 

One of the best things about cupping, however, is that it is an incredibly low-risk procedure. There are almost no side effects to cupping, except for the red circular bruises that appear on the skin from the suction. There is also a very small risk of skin infection which is more common with the wet cupping method but still not something to be too worried about. So, despite the lack of substantial research into the effectiveness of cupping, there is almost no reason not to give it a try if you’re searching for relief from one of the mentioned ailments or simply want to try a new method of relaxation.