Cupping therapy refers to a method of complementary medicine. It is one of the oldest therapeutic methods and was depicted on a Mesopotamian doctor’s seal as early as about 3,000 BC. Cupping is a traditional therapy method, which is supposed to remove harmful substances from the body – from a naturopathic point of view it is counted among the draining methods. The aim of these procedures is to remove harmful substances or substances that cause illness from the body.
The effects of cupping therapy are many. It improves:
- The local blood circulation
- The lymph flow
- The metabolism in the treated skin area
Other effects of cupping therapy are conditioned by positive influence on reflex pathways associated with internal organs and organ systems.
Indications (areas of application)
- Bronchial asthma
- Discopathy (disc damage)
- Biliary diseases, functional
- Heart complaints, functional
- Hypertension (high blood pressure)
- Icterus (jaundice)
- Liver disease (functional liver weakness).
- Pulmonary diseases
- Lumboischialgia (occurrence of a combined phenomenon composed of back pain and sciatica).
- Migraine
- Myogelosis (nodular or bulging, clearly circumscribed hardening in the muscles; colloquially known as hard tension).
- Renal insufficiency (kidney weakness)
- Rheumatic diseases
- Tonsillitis (inflammation of the tonsils)
Contraindications
The procedure
In cupping therapy, cupping glasses (cupping heads) are placed on the skin of the patient, which should lead to the fact that harmful substances are discharged from the body with the help of negative pressure. The negative pressure is created by heating the air in the cupping glass and immediately placing the glass on the body. The cupping glasses are mainly placed on the back. Other locations include the liver, abdomen, thorax or thigh.
The following forms of cupping can be distinguished:
- Bloody cupping – in this method, the skin is scratched before the cupping glass is put on, so that blood is drawn from the body and discharged during the cupping process.
- Dry cupping – in this method, the skin is not scratched.
- Cupping massage – the skin area to be treated is rubbed with skin oil and then massaged with the help of the attached cupping glasses
Possible complications
With bloody cupping, in rare cases, inflammation, wound healing disorder or scarring may occur. Dry cupping causes a hematoma to form; this is a desirable therapeutic effect. In rare cases, there may be a short-term worsening of symptoms (phenomenon of first worsening). The phenomenon of initial worsening is not only known in cupping therapy. This phenomenon is also known in homeopathy and traditional Chinese medicine (TCM).
