Is cupping useful for lumbar muscle strain

People in modern urban office buildings work hard at their desks every day, so many people suffer from lumbar muscle strain. Some people who lack physical exercise and have incorrect sitting posture are also prone to lumbar muscle strain. In the early stages of this disease, it only causes soreness and swelling in the waist, but in the later stages, severe cases can affect upright walking and seriously affect the quality of life and work. It is said that cupping is very effective in relieving body pain, but is cupping useful for lumbar muscle strain?

The main symptoms of lumbar muscle strain

Patients with lumbar muscle strain have no other obvious symptoms except chronic low back pain, so the disease often does not attract enough attention, resulting in the disease cannot be controlled in time. When the disease becomes serious, patients often have severe low back pain that affects their normal body activities. Lumbar muscle strain usually has the following five manifestations:

1. People with a history of early lumbar injury or lumbar soft tissue pain. If such people often engage in a certain job, such as office clerk, driver, etc., and lack physical exercise, they are likely to suffer from lumbar muscle strain.

2. Chronic lumbar soreness and pain often occur without obvious cause. The pain can be relieved by rest, kneading or hot compress. This pain can be relieved after lying in bed for a while, but it will recur soon. It can be relieved again by doing a little activity, but if you move too long, the pain will worsen again.

3. There is a history of obvious lumbar trauma and there are fixed tenderness points in the painful area. The location of these fixed tenderness points is usually near the origin and insertion points of the lumbar muscles, or at the junction of the nerves and muscles. However, the pain in most patients with lumbar muscle strain is often widespread and not limited to one or two points, so sometimes it is difficult to clearly point out the location of the pain.

4. There is unilateral or bilateral paravertebral muscle spasm. The waist movement of this type of people is generally normal, but they may experience severe pain similar to acute lumbar sprain when the body is in a certain fixed position. However, if an X-ray examination of the waist is performed at this time, there will generally be no obvious lesions.

5. When the weather changes, symptoms of lumbar muscle spasms and pain will occur, and lumbar movements will be significantly restricted.

Is cupping useful for lumbar muscle strain?

Traditional Chinese medicine believes that cupping can warm the meridians and dispel cold, promote blood circulation and dredge collaterals, relax muscles and relieve pain. Modern medicine believes that due to the mechanical attraction of the negative pressure inside the cup, it can cause local tissue congestion and even stasis and capillary rupture, causing vascular hemolysis and the appearance of cupping spots, etc., which has a benign stimulating effect on the body. Therefore, cupping on the waist can treat lumbar muscle strain, chronic sprains and contusions, myofascial syndrome, chronic neck, shoulder, waist and leg pain, etc.

How to use cupping on the waist to treat lumbar muscle strain

Method 1

1. In addition to the kidney point, large intestine point and positive cord-like tender points, first use a filiform needle to prick the collaterals or a three-edged needle to cause bleeding, and then apply the cupping jar. After a small amount of blood is drawn out, the cupping is removed.

2. When removing the can, hold the can with one hand and squeeze the skin with the other hand to form a small gap between the can mouth and the skin. Allow air to slowly enter the can and the can will fall off by itself.

3. Then use gauze to gently wipe away the water droplets on the cupping marks and let the patient rest for 15 minutes. This method is particularly effective for low back pain caused by blood stasis.

Method 2

Take several vacuum cups of suitable sizes and diameters. The operator holds the cup in one hand, with the mouth of the cup pressed downward on the painful local Ah Shi point (or positive reaction point). With the other hand, use a syringe or aspirator to draw out the air in the cup to form negative pressure. Then clamp the catheter with hemostatic forceps and leave it in place for 20 to 30 minutes.