Cupping

About cupping

Cupping therapy also known as myofascial decompression is a form of manual therapy that has been used for thousands of years in China, but is just now starting to make traction in Western health and rehabilitation circles. 

Cupping is a manual therapy technique unlike the rest. Most manual therapies are compressive in nature with pressure being placed into the body in an attempt to enhance mobility of the soft tissues or joints. During cupping therapy, negative pressure created by the vacuum effect of the cups draws the skin and soft tissue layers away from the body creating a decompression effect. 

This decompression helps to stretch local fascia, and aids in improving blood flow and metabolic exchange within the tissues. For this reason cupping therapy is able to provide a different approach to the norm for mobilizing soft tissue, pain management, and helping increase mobility. Research has shown cupping therapy to be as or more effective at improving flexibility and decreasing pain than heat and stretching.

Muscle pain and tenderness is often related to decreased blood flow, which leads to an increase of metabolic by-products like lactic acid. Cupping therapy helps draw toxins out of muscles and to the superficial veins to be removed by the body, which can aid in reducing pain and soft tissue tension.