Let's get cupped

As you may have already seen on empower socials, I recently completed a cupping therapy course in Auckland! The course was run by the incredible Advanced Clinical Education team from Australia, and the insight and knowledge they had to share was above and beyond expectations.

Cupping therapy is a modality originating from Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), but the Functional Release Cupping (FRC) training I completed was a little different and a slightly more westernized practice. The FRC cupping uses plastic cups and a suction (gun) which draws air out of the cups and lifts the tissue upwards due to the increase in suction pressure. Cupping works in a similar way to deep tissue massage and has many of the same benefits. It is great for treating knots or trigger points, muscle and fascia tightness, injuries and scar tissue and muscular pain reduction.

The slow, multidirectional and sustained pressure cupping provides stimulates nociceptors in the body's nervous system increases the tone of our parasympathetic nervous system - the rest and digest control center of the body. This means that chemically, the manual stimulation helps to relax us from the inside out, in a very similar way to massage. It also increases circulation to the location of the cup and stimulates a low level inflammatory response. Now that may sound bad but it really isn't! Because there is no tissue damage caused, essentially there are just a little flood of enzymes to the dysfunctional tissue, which means that this tissue (or tight spot) is getting a flush of fresh blood and enzymes which help to balance our pH and overall reduce pain in the area.

Whoa! Now I know that was all a bit complex and a lot to take on, but essentially cupping is an epic therapy for general pain reduction and in some cases has even been shown to reduce chronic pain in fibromyalgia sufferers.

Cupping therapy is not a painful practice, although it looks intense and can be a bit of an interesting modality to get your head around if you've never had it before, it should never hurt. The markings left on the skin (as you can see in the picture below) are not normally referred to as bruising either. As there is no tissue damage, there is no real bruising or pain on the cupping sites after the therapy. They may be a little tender to touch post session, but no different to how you'd feel after a deep tissue massage. These markings are caused by vasodilation from the pressure and some plasma leakage due to the increased circulation, meaning the 'bruising' is totally normal and is what allows those great enzymes mentioned above to do their thing. The marks hang around for around 3-7 days depending on the person.

If you want to learn more about cupping or to book a stand alone session or a cupping/massage combo please do get in touch!