Cupping therapy is an ancient form of alternative medicine in which a therapist puts special cups on your skin for a few minutes to create suction. People get it for many purposes, including to help with pain, inflammation, blood flow, relaxation and well-being, and as a type of deep-tissue massage.
Traditional Chinese practitioners discuss different areas, or meridians, of the body that are used to transfer energy. They believe each body has twelve different meridians and treatment can be applied to each meridian for a myriad of reasons.
The cups may be made of:
- Glass
- Bamboo
- Earthenware
- Silicone
Cupping therapy might be trendy now, but it’s not new. It dates back to ancient Egyptian, Chinese, and Middle Eastern cultures. One of the oldest medical textbooks in the world, the Ebers Papyrus, describes how the ancient Egyptians used cupping therapy in 1,550 B.C.
Alternative medicine is defined as any form of medical treatment that is used in the place of traditional therapies or traditional and modern scientific medicine and practices. Alternative medicine claims to provide healing effects that other forms of medicinal therapy have not been proven to work. Alternative medicine is quickly growing in popularity as a way to promote the same healing properties that can be found in traditional medicine but without the risk of the same side effects.