Acupuncture and Cupping

By Jay Cho, DC, LAc, FIAMA

Acupuncturists perform acupuncture daily for neck pain, lower back pain, auto accident injury, and more. Acupuncture can be used for all conditions including:

Allergies, sinus, cold, flu
Diet and nutrition
Depression, anxiety, stress
Immune disorders
Weight loss and management
Chronic fatigue syndrome
Poor circulation
Stroke, Bell’s palsy
Infertility PMS
Insomnia
Gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD)

Acupuncture is a technique of inserting and manipulating fine filiform needles into specific points on the body to relieve pain or for therapeutic purposes. The word acupuncture comes from the Latin acus, “needle”, and pungere, “to prick.” Acupuncture, simply stated, is a health science that is used to successfully treat both pain and dysfunction in the body.

Acupuncture has its roots deeply planted in China. In fact, authorities agree the science is between 5,000 and 7,000 years old. Its use spread throughout ancient Egypt, the Middle East, the Roman Empire and later into Western Europe as merchants and missionaries to China told of the amazing discoveries the people of the Orient had developed.

Early Chinese physicians discovered there is an energy network traversing just below the surface of the skin, which communicates from the exterior to the internal organs and structures over 1,000 “acupoints” on the body. This energy works in harmony with the body’s circulatory, nervous, muscular, digestive, genitourinary and all other systems of the body. When this vital energy becomes blocked or weakened, an effect in a body system or anatomic location becomes evident. Stimulation of one or a combination of key “acupoints” on the body may restore harmony to the affected area.

Historians have stated, “More people have benefited from acupuncture over the course of 50 centuries than the combined total of all other healing sciences, both ancient and modern.” There is general agreement that acupuncture is very safe when administered by well-trained practitioners using sterile needles. There are many researches and studies that were published by WHO.

Needles and Cupping

Cupping refers to an ancient Chinese practice in which a cup is applied to the skin and the pressure in the cup is reduced by suctioning out air, so that the skin and superficial muscle layer is drawn into and held in the cup.

In that practice, the skin is pinched at specific points until redness is generated. Cupping is applied by acupuncturists to certain acupuncture points, as well as to regions of the body that are affected by pain (where the pain is deeper than the tissues to be pulled). A certain amount of bruising is expected both from cupping, especially at the site of the cup rim. However, this skin redness or bruising will disappear usually within a week.

In some cases, a small amount of blood letting is done first; using a pricking needle, and then the cup is applied over the site. This technique is said to promote blood circulation, remove stasis, and alleviate swelling and pain. It is employed especially when there is a toxic heat syndrome and for a variety of acute ailments

Conditions Which Can Benefit From Cupping

Conditions that can benefit from cupping include headache, back pain, joint and muscular pain, rheumatic diseases, hypertension, breast enhancement, bed wetting, common colds and flu, insomnia, fever, constipation and diarrhea, chest pain, asthma, and blood disorders.