Cupping Therapy: Understanding an Age-Old Art
Ever see those perfectly circular black and blue marks and wonder, “how?” No, they did not get in a fight with an octopus... cupping therapy is what we’re talking about! However, those purple bruises can be misleading. Said bruises aren’t the result of a painful impact, but rather a direct symptom of the modality and to be expected. So fear not! In this post, I’ll provide an overview of cupping, including its history, how it affects our health, and why it pairs so well with massage. Let’s ride!
Cupping seems to be riding a popularity wave as more folks learn about its ability to support our health, and for good reason. When receiving, one can often sense the physical effects. The cups pull muscle and connective tissue up, literally creating more space. That suction helps to relieve tight muscles, adhesions, and tension within connective tissue. Oftentimes, folks report feeling more limber after a cupping session. Moreover, we utilize different techniques with our cups. Sometimes we keep them stationary, usually over specifically tight tissues and adhesions. But I’ll often slide the cups too, and providing that movement causes our tissues to open more dynamically and thoroughly as I follow and cross over the muscle fibers. The spaciousness created by suction is a pleasant contrast to the pressure from hands and fingers, working the tissues in a unique fashion only cups can provide. The physical, muscular aspect of cupping feels fairly straightforward, but there’s more to them.
See, the suction of the cups also facilitates a strong flow of oxygen-rich blood throughout the body, especially when they glide. Tissues physically rise and blood flows with that movement and suction. Oftentimes tiny blood capillaries actually break in the epidermis; and a bruise is just that, damaged and leaking blood vessels. When this occurs we get those trademark cupping bruises. The body responds by sending vital chemicals and plasma within that fresh blood to facilitate healing, particularly at the site of the bruised area, but there’s a widespread effect throughout the body. And this is where the lymph comes in. The suction of cupping increases blood flow and ultimately drops off plasma into our tissues where it becomes lymph. That lymph then collects fluids, cellular waste products, pathogens, and toxins within our tissues to circulate and filter out through the nodes, tidying our tissues up a bit. The lymphatic system is an integral part to immune responses, so this improved circulation of blood and lymph fluid directly supports improved filtration of pathogens and toxins and immune response at large. That increased blood flow, lymph activity, and immune response is a large part of why cupping is so helpful when living with inflammatory ailments such as asthma, arthritis, and bacterial/viral ailments such as viruses, colds and flus.
Let’s tie this improved blood circulation with the physical manipulation of the muscle and connective tissue. As noted, when using cups we create physical space and also increase blood flow, in turn saturating our lifted muscle tissues with fresh blood and lymph. In addition to moving important cells and chemicals for healthy immune function, fresh blood helps to support the healing of our muscle and connective tissues by dropping off the proper healing components such as proteins. Simultaneously, lymph removes and circulates the toxic buildup from the inflammatory response of an injury or workout, clearing and filtering those toxic cells out. Fresh blood and removed toxic buildup equals improved recovery in both time and efficiency. This effect is especially beneficial as folks recover after injuries such as muscle strains and tears, or simply as a part of recovery post workout or post competition. The benefits of cupping affect various systems in our body, making it a lovely treatment for a range of conditions.
Alright, let’s get into one of my favorite parts of this, the history! Cupping therapy stretches back thousands of years, with origins within the East Asian and Middle Eastern medical and philosophical sphere. Interestingly, it seems that humans developed cupping simultaneously in different parts of the world (similar to agriculture). China is one home of cupping, as is the broader Middle Eastern region and Egypt. Originally, people used animal horns as the cups and utilized fire to create the suction, just like we do nowadays but with glass cups. While medical philosophy and literature of ancient cultures is difficult to come by for various and at times violent reasons, we are fortunate to have a thorough and popular history of Traditional Chinese Medicine.
In TCM and other East Asian philosophies, there is the concept of Qi or life-force energy. The flow of Qi directly correlates to the health of a person, and cupping is used to improve the circulation of Qi by opening up blockages, resolving stagnation, and ultimately developing an environment poised for clean and clear flow of Qi. We can tie this concept of flowing Qi with our understanding of flowing blood and lymph, creating a connection between TCM and the predominant Western medicine we experience in our society today.
Moreover, cupping therapy has been a consistent practice in Muslim societies both as a preventative practice and one to resolve illness and is considered a part of the prophetic medicine system. Plus, cupping is mentioned in Ebers papyrus, an ancient Egyptian medical text which stretches back over 3,000 years, and cupping’s importance carried sway in the Greek diatritus too, or the Graeco-Roman medical system developed around 2,000 years ago. Of course, the popularity of cupping has waxed and waned over time, particularly in Western cultures where modern medicine took root. However, there’s been a significant revitalization of cupping therapy over recent decades in Western society, culminating in a resurgence of this ancient practice.
To this day, we draw insights from an age-old wisdom where people understood this modality as a way to manage a variety of diseases, illness’, pain, and other maladies such as snake bites. Cupping is a dynamic modality with a global history.
If you’re interested in diving deeper into the literature on cupping, consider some of these sources I utilized below.
Cupping Therapy: What Is it, How It Works, Benefits, and More (well.org)
Chinese Medicine and Culture (lww.com)
The history and mystery of cupping - Hektoen International (hekint.org)
History of cupping (Hijama): a narrative review of literature - PubMed (nih.gov)
Lymph: Function, Importance & What It’s Made Of (clevelandclinic.org)
Lymphatic Drainage: Fast, Flash & Massage Cupping Techniques (massagemag.com)
