Is air cupping useful

Air cupping is beneficial to the body. It can not only remove the internal heat but also expel the waste that has been accumulated in the body for a long time. The darker the color after air cupping, the more toxins there are in the body. After cupping, the whole body will be painful and turn purple, and even bleed and burst. Air cupping can effectively remove moisture from our body and expel toxins from the body.

It’s best not to pull too much! Not good for the skin!

The principle of cupping therapy:

Cupping therapy is also known as "fire cupping" and "suction cup therapy" and was called "horn method" in ancient times. This is a therapy that uses cups as tools to expel the air inside through heat, creating negative pressure, which is then absorbed by the skin, causing congestion. Ancient doctors used it to absorb blood and drain pus when treating sores and abscesses, and later expanded its application to internal diseases such as tuberculosis and rheumatism. After the founding of the People's Republic of China, cupping therapy has made new developments due to continuous improvement of methods, further expanding the scope of treatment and becoming an important treatment in acupuncture.

How cupping works

1. Effect of negative pressure: Domestic and foreign scholars have found that when the human body is under negative pressure suction by cupping, a large number of bubbles overflow from the skin surface, thereby enhancing the gas exchange of local tissues. Through examination, it was also observed that: negative pressure caused changes in local capillary permeability and capillary rupture, a small amount of blood entered the tissue gap, thereby causing congestion, red blood cells were destroyed, hemoglobin was released, and autohemolysis occurred. In the process of the body's self-adjustment, it produces the effects of promoting qi and blood circulation, relaxing muscles and tendons, reducing swelling and relieving pain, and removing wind and dampness, acting as a benign stimulus to promote the recovery of normal functions.

2. Warming effect Cupping has a warming stimulation effect on local skin, which is most obvious with large fire cups, water cups, and medicine cups. Warm stimulation can dilate blood vessels, promote local blood circulation, improve congestion, strengthen metabolism, accelerate the discharge of waste and toxins in the body, change local tissue structure, and improve the quality of life.

3. Regulatory effect The regulatory effect of cupping is based on negative pressure or warming effects. First of all, it regulates the nervous system. Due to autohemolysis, the body is given a series of benign stimuli, which act on the peripheral receptors of the nervous system and reach the cerebral cortex through centripetal conduction. In addition, the warm stimulation of local skin by cupping is transmitted to the central nervous system through the reflex pathway of skin receptors and vascular receptors, resulting in reflex excitement, thereby regulating the excitement and inhibition process of the cerebral cortex, making it tend to balance, and strengthening the regulatory function of the cerebral cortex on various parts of the body, so that the corresponding tissue metabolism of the affected skin is vigorous, the phagocytosis is enhanced, the body is prompted to recover its function, the imbalance of yin and yang is adjusted, and the disease is gradually cured.

The second is to regulate microcirculation and improve metabolism. The main function of microcirculation is to exchange substances between blood and tissues, and the regulation of its function is of great significance in both physiology and pathology. It can also enhance lymphatic circulation and activate the phagocytic ability of lymphocytes. In addition, due to the autohemolysis phenomenon after cupping, a histamine-like substance is produced, which circulates throughout the body with body fluids, stimulates various organs, and enhances their functional vitality, which helps to restore the body's functions.

4. Different cupping methods have different effects. Based on the common characteristics of fire cupping, different cupping methods have their own special effects. For example, cupping has similar effects to massage therapy and health scraping therapy. It can improve skin respiration and nutrition, promote the secretion of sweat glands and sebaceous glands, enhance the elasticity and mobility of joints and tendons, and promote peripheral blood circulation. It can increase muscle blood flow, enhance muscle working ability and endurance, and prevent muscle atrophy. It can deepen breathing, enhance gastrointestinal motility, excite the nerves that control abdominal organs, and enhance the secretory function of gastrointestinal organs and other organs. It can accelerate blood return in veins, reduce large circulation resistance, reduce the burden on the heart, and adjust the distribution of muscle and visceral blood flow and reserves. Slow and light techniques have a calming effect on the nervous system; fast and heavy techniques have a certain excitatory effect on the nervous system.

Cupping along the meridians can also improve the functions of each meridian and help adjust the overall function of the meridians. Another example is the medicine cup method. Under the negative pressure and warmth inside the cup, local pores and sweat glands open, capillaries dilate, blood circulation accelerates, and more drugs can be directly absorbed. Depending on the different medications used, the efficacy of the drugs varies. For example, for skin diseases, the local therapeutic effect of the medicine cupping method is more obvious. The water cupping method focuses on warming the meridians and dispersing cold; the blood pricking and cupping method focuses on removing blood stasis, resolving stagnation, and relieving blockages; the combination of acupuncture and cupping can produce a variety of effects depending on the different acupuncture methods used.

Contraindications of cupping

It should not be used on areas with high fever, convulsions, cramps, etc.; areas with skin allergies or ulcers; areas with thin muscles or uneven bones and excessive hair; pregnant women should use it with caution in the lumbar and sacral areas and abdomen.