Lesser Known TCM Techniques

They are techniques commonly used in Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), sometimes on their own but usually in conjunction with a primary therapy such as acupuncture. Over the next few weeks I'll be discussing the applications of each.

First let's take a look at cupping. This very simple but effective technique uses thick, rounded glass cups and the vacuum created by briefly holding a flame inside each one then applying it to the skin, to move and circulate stagnant blood in the muscles and soft tissues of the body. Often cupping is used in cases of muscular tension in the back and neck, to move the blood thereby freeing up the area. Cupping may also be used in certain cases of abdominal pain.

You may think this sounds weird, but TCM is a very logical system of medicine that has evolved over several thousand years of trial and error testing on literally millions of people. What we are lucky enough to have in use today is basically that which works. What doesn't was discarded long ago.

Once the practitioner has selected the site to be cupped he or she will light a flame (often by igniting an alcohol swab held by long tweezers), then briefly hold it inside the cup to burn the oxygen and form a vacuum, before quickly applying it to the skin. More modern, plastic cupping sets however are also in use these days. This does away with the need to use a flame to produce the vacuum effect. Each cup has a valve at the top to which is attached a trigger gun. By squeezing the trigger air is sucked out of the cup, at the same time drawing the flesh up into it. This method is safer but not necessarily the better of the two.

Up to 6 cups may be used at one time and spaced so as not to create an uncomfortable pinching of the flesh in a particular area. The vacuum created immediately sucks a small amount of flesh(and therefore blood) up into the cup. By drawing stagnant blood towards the surface of the body, freer circulation is permitted. Usually the cups are left in place for a maximum of 15 minutes and many patients report immediate improvement especially in cases of muscular tension. Cupping in not applicable over moles, freckles, skin irritations or if the skin is broken.

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