My Cupping Experience

I often hear the phrase ‘there is a fine line between pleasure and pain’, however I can assure you that when it comes to Chronic pain there is only the latter.

Living with Chronic pain is hell, trying to live a normal life and do simple tasks just like being able to get out of bed, get dressed and even go to work is so hard, taking drugs all day and looking for alternative options every day to try and ease of the symptoms can also be super draining.

I first heard about cupping and scraping a few years ago from a Fitness Youtuber who was having cupping as an alternative therapy and I have been obsessed with the idea of it ever since. I was always on the lookout for a therapist who offered Cupping & Scraping but never come across anyone local until recently.

So what is Cupping?

According to Web MD:

Cupping therapy is an ancient form of alternative medicine in which a therapist puts special cups on your skin for a few minutes to create suction. People get it for many purposes, including to help with pain, inflammation, blood flow, relaxation and well-being, and as a type of deep-tissue massage.

I was a little nervous my first time because I had no idea what to expect. Will it hurt? How long will it take? What exactly is the process? Thankfully, the therapist I met with was super friendly and answered all my questions about the process and what to expect. When I told her that I have chronic shoulder and neck pain, she decided to mainly concentrate on those areas.

She told me to take off my shirt and had me lie face down on a massage table. She then started to massage my whole body, and this helped her find the other areas she needed to work on. After the massage she then placed small glass cups on my neck and back and used a pump to suck the pressure out of them so they stay in place. I definitely felt the pressure but it felt REALLY GOOD. She then left the cups on for 15 minutes, and then proceeded to come back and remove them one by one. She then showed me the cups that had been round my calves and told me about the moisture and how my calves have poor circulation and ways I can improve this. After this I then rolled on to my back and she then proceeded to massage my chest, shoulders and arms before starting the ‘Scraping’ on my chest.

What is heck is Scraping?

“Scraping massage or Gua sha is a natural, alternative therapy that involves scraping your skin with a massage tool to improve your circulation. Rubbing the skin’s surface is thought to help break up this energy, reduce inflammation, and promote healing”
Source

My thoughts

I definitely enjoyed the experience and would recommend her to anyone local to me. The massage at the start was amazing, the pressure was perfect, (I like it very hard!) and at one point she was on all fours on the massage couch above me trying to get a deep knot out of my shoulder, which when she got it out made me feel sick!!

The scraping was more intense but lasted minutes whereas the cupping was less painful but for a longer period, if i had to rate the Cupping pain overall out of 10 I would say for me it was about a 3 or 4 (10 being the worst!). It just felt like your skin was being tightly sucked so on my inner thighs it was worse than on my shoulders etc.

Immediately afterwards I felt the benefits, my shoulders and back all felt looser, with less tension and lot more mobility. The circles were a little sore afterwards, feeling like a light bruise.

She advised me not to shower for 24 hours as my pores would still be open and to drink plenty of fluids and rest. She explained that the marks would last roughly 3-5 days and no more than 10 days and she went on to explain that they are not bruises and not to be worried.

The vacuum formed by Cupping draws up the old non-circulating stagnant blood and sticky fluids from the area, bringing them up to the surface and away from the injury so that healthy free circulation can be restored to the affected area, thus creating space for oxygen, living cells and nutrients for faster recovery. Where there is dead, static blood, lymph, cellular debris, pathogenic factors, and toxins present in the body, Cupping can leave marks which indicates that the stagnation or disease has been moved from the deeper tissue layers to the surface. – Source

The next day I felt like I had been hit by a bus though, but I always do after a massage. 3 days later and I feel amazing, I have had so much relief from this treatment and I highly recommend for anyone looking into alternative therapies to try! I actually want to book another one in soon and definitely think this will be a regular thing for me now.

For an hour treatment which included massage, cupping & scraping it cost me £60.