WHAT THE HELL IS VACUUM CUPPING?
Have you ever seen photos of athletes or celebrities on social media with red or brown circular bruise marks on their back?
Those marks are from static vacuum cupping. With static vacuum cupping the cups are placed on a body part, usually the back, and left in place for a length of time.
That isn’t the type of cupping I do!
The type of cupping I do is called moving and functional vacuum cupping.
Cupping is kind of the opposite of massage.
In massage, pressure is applied to the body, with cupping suction is applied instead.
Moving Cupping
In moving cupping suction is applied with a single plastic cup and moved over the skin. This gently pulls on the skin and underlying soft tissue to help release and ease tensions.
Functional Cupping
With Functional Cupping a selection of soft silicon cups is used around an area of disfunction or restriction. The joint and muscles in that area are then moved through range of movement. I use passive (I move it) and active (you move it) movement. This helps to free-off restrictions and ease the sensation of movement in those areas.
Moving and functional cupping can produce very noticeable results, very quickly. A very powerful tool for relieving pain and decreasing tension.
With this type of cupping, the cups are not left in place long enough to cause the tissue bruising seen in many cupping photos. Saying that, just like massage it can leave the skin a little red sometimes.
One thing to keep in mind is cupping doesn’t work well or sometimes at all on areas of the body with lots of body hair. This is due to not being able to generate and sustain enough suction on the skin.
If this is something you’d like to try during your next session, let me know at the start. If relevant for your body and condition I’ll try to add them to your treatment.
