Cupping is a traditional Chinese medical treatment, similar in purpose to acupuncture, in that it attempts to stimulate the body’s meridians, enhance the flow of Qi, and restore the body’s balance:
Cupping uses suction to draw blood to a specific point on your body, allowing the circulation of that blood to heal certain organs and body parts related to “meridian lines” running along your neck, legs, hands, and back. This three-thousand-year-old therapy has been called many things and each technique has been a little bit different.
In ancient China, it was first called “horn therapy” because healers used hollow animal horns on the body to get rid of pus. Bamboo cups have also been popular and are inexpensive to make but since the use of a glass cap was started for cupping, nothing else has rivaled it because the transparent nature of the glass makes it easier for the technician to see the state of the skin trapped inside of the rim. Traditional use involves a bit of alcohol in each cup before being lighted by fire (hence the alternate name “fire-cupping”) in order to warm but not burn the skin. Conventional “air” cupping usage nowadays strays away from open flames and focuses on the safety of the patient by using a pump mechanism to secure the vacuum instead of burning the oxygen out of the glass.
By using warmth and the pressure of the device creating a vacuum, cupping promotes the flow of blood and “qi”—also known as chi, Chinese for “natural energy from the Universe”—helping to decrease swelling, get rid of fever, comfort pain in the lower back and extremities, stomachaches, vomiting, diarrhea, asthma, and lung disease among others. Another less well-known type is called “wet” cupping where the skin is pierced before the cup is placed over the area allowing a small amount of blood to collect and is thought to relieve certain conditions. This is also known as blood-letting alongside the regular cupping process in most alternative medicine definitions.
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