By means of a vacuum, traditionally bamboo or wooden cupping heads – today only cupping glasses are used – a suction is exerted on the skin, connective tissue and underlying muscle areas.
The aim is to loosen tense muscle areas, poorly perfused connective tissue and hardened tendons, or to optimize the activity of internal organs by means of this stimulus.
Often painless red or blue spots appear on the skin, which improve blood circulation and lymph flow in the treated area and disappear completely after 1 to 5 days.
Cupping is especially helpful for migraine, rheumatism, exhaustion, depression, pain syndromes and colds.
Different types of application
- Bloody cupping: Here the affected skin area is slightly scratched beforehand.
- Dry cupping: The skin remains intact.
- Cupping massage: The skin is oiled before the treatment and the cupping glasses are moved on the skin.
Indications and clinical pictures
Below are some examples of diseases for which cupping is often used:
- psychosomatic diseases (exhaustion, sleep disorders, psychovegetative stress syndrome)
- in internal diseases (bronchial asthma, diarrhea, constipation, irritable colon, reflux esophagitis and gastritis)
- problems and diseases of the musculoskeletal system (cervical syndrome, dorsalgia, lumbalgia, impingement syndrome, PHS)
- in gynecological diseases, menstrual disorders and obstetrics
- in children’s and infants’ diseases (bronchitis, bronchial asthma)