Cupping Massage Provides Deep Tissue Massage Without Compression

What if you could have the benefits of deep tissue massage without the deep pressure? Cupping massage offers that alternative.

Standard deep massage uses deep pressure to help break up and get rid of scar tissue from previous injuries and adhesions (stuck together tissue) from the stresses of daily living. In contrast, cupping massage uses suction and negative pressure to affect the deeper muscles.

How Cupping Works

Modern cupping massage grew out of the Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) practice of cupping therapy. In traditional cupping therapy, the TCM practitioner places a flame inside a glass, pottery, or bamboo cup. The flame draws the oxygen out of the cup, creating a vacuum, and the practitioner quickly places the open end of the cup on your body.

The vacuum in the cup creates a seal on your skin that has a suction and negative pressure that lifts your skin and underlying tissue. This stimulation causes blood to rush to the area and improves qi flow. Typically, TCM practitioners leave the cups in one place (stationary cupping) for about ten minutes, although practitioners do sometimes move the cups (running cupping) in a massage fashion.

Modern Deep Tissue Cupping Massage

A main difference between traditional and massage cupping is that a massage practitioner uses the cups to perform massage strokes, such as scooping the edge of the cup over a muscle, vigorous circles, or long strokes along the muscles. Before placing cups on your skin, the massage practitioner applies oil to your skin to make moving them easier and smoother.

Some massage practitioners use the technique already described (called fire cupping). Another, newer, technique uses a manual vacuum set. The practitioner places a cup on your body and uses an attached pump to remove the air.

In Eastern terms, the suction and negative pressure of deep tissue cupping massage breaks up local qi stagnation. In Western terms, you can think of qi stagnation as poor blood circulation or poor movement of lymphatic fluid. The potential benefits of cupping massage include:

• Relaxes tight muscles


• Drains excess fluids and toxins by opening lymphatic pathways


• Loosens adhesions and scar tissue by lifting connective tissue


• Stimulates circulation.

Considerations

Cupping massage causes the skin to become red, which indicates that blood is coming to the surface. The suction draws the skin up into the cup, causing the surface blood vessels to expand. This suction can cause discoloration, because a small amount of blood may leak from peripheral capillaries. The discoloration usually fades within a few days.

As with all types of massage, this type of massage is not for everyone, so make sure your massage practitioner is aware of all your medical conditions. Conditions for which massage cupping is inappropriate include inflamed skin, high fever, convulsions or cramping, and easy bleeding. Also, cupping is not appropriate on the abdominal area or lower back of pregnant women.