Cupping is a therapeutic technique that involves placing cups on the skin to create suction. This helps to increase circulation, reduce inflammation, and promote relaxation. This suction is thought to draw out toxins and impurities from the body, improve blood flow, and relieve pain.
Cupping is often used to treat a variety of conditions, including:
Cupping has been used by different cultures for thousands of years. Today many bodywork practitioners use it to treat everything from constipation to cellulite to back and shoulder pain.
East Asian Medicine sees cupping as a way of promoting better circulation of Qi whether in terms of the physical body or the emotions (eg. it is very good for shoulder tension caused by stress). In Western Medicine terms, this may be translated as encouraging the circulation of blood and lymph in the body.