GREEN LAKE: (206) 522-6240 | WEST SEATTLE: (206) 946-1323

Cupping Therapy: What is it & how can it help you?

So, what is cupping?

Traditional massage techniques apply pressure to skin and other soft tissues. With cupping, it is actually the inverse. The oversimplified idea is to apply negative pressure to tissues and actually lift away from your skeletal system.

I know that can sound terrifying, but it is not at all painful. The “cupping” portion is exactly what it sounds like.

There are numerous ways to apply the cup, but it takes a trained practitioner to understand the best area and movement to apply with the cup(s) itself.

Is cupping safe?

Cupping is perfectly safe for the majority of people.

The most common perceived negative side-effect of cupping would be the bruising of the tissue, which typically goes away after 5-10 days depending on the person.

As with most passive modalities (i.e. ice, heat, acupuncture, massage, instrument assisted therapy, the list goes on), they won’t provide a long-term “fix” for any musculoskeletal issue, but that also means there aren’t a lot of instances where it could be perceived as harmful to use.

Make An Appointment

What conditions can cupping help?

If you’ve seen cupping marks, chances are that you’ve seen them mostly around the spine. This doesn’t mean that cupping is limited to back issues.

You can apply cupping almost anywhere that you may be having musculoskeletal pain.

Not everyone has the same reduction in pain and increase in range of motion (remember, humans are all different and there is no one size fits all treatment).

With that said, cupping has been shown to temporarily decrease pain in most soft tissue issues/injuries.

Cupping can be applied to whatever tissue has the issue (haha, see what I did there).

Some common examples we may see include:

Book Now

What are the benefits of cupping?

Like I mentioned earlier, the benefits of cupping can come in a wide array for different people. Because the cup is applying negative pressure to tissues, the idea is that it can promote blood flow to tissue and promote healing and reduce pain.

There are different ways to use the cups in this context, but usually, there will be some movement applied while the cups are on.

This treatment usually doesn’t take long and may range from a few to ten minutes worth of application and movement.

With that said, the 4 most common benefits for cupping may last longer for some, but usually include:

    1. Decrease in pain
    2. Temporary increase in blood flow to the tissue
    3. Increase in range of motion
    4. Provides an opportunity for an increase in movement to build up tolerance and strength in tissues of the surrounding area

Here’s a video we put together on how cupping can help with injury recovery:

Make An Appointment