Treat your muscle and soft tissue issues with cupping at Select Physical Therapy. Our therapists provide a manual therapy technique called cupping, which – along with other therapies – is used to treat muscle and soft tissue dysfunction.
Available for appropriate patients, from adolescents to adults, cupping can benefit the affected areas:
- Reducing inflammation
- Reduction of muscle spasms
- Pain reduction
- Improving blood and oxygen circulation
- Improving range of motion
Select Physical Therapy offers two types of cupping therapy: dynamic and static techniques. You and your therapist will select the right technique for you based on the location of your affected muscles and comfort level.
Dynamic cupping is our most commonly used treatment. During treatment, your therapist will gently apply silicone cups to the affected area. The soft tissue will begin to rise within the cup and develop into a reddish pink color. The therapist glides the cups along your skin using light, medium or strong pressure – based on your personal preference and comfort level. Your therapist will adjust the amount of pressure as therapy progresses.
Static cupping is typically used to target deeper muscles in the back. Your therapist will place silicone cups on the affected areas and leave them in one place for 2-10 minutes.
Cupping creates a negative pressure above the surface of the body's tissues, which allows the tissue to lift up instead of being compressed. Cupping draws stagnation out of the tissues and brings it to the skin level. The pores expand and expel some of these wastes and toxins, making the rest more accessible to the body's circulatory and lymphatic systems, where they can be properly flushed away. Additionally, cupping brings fresh, invigorated blood to stagnant areas. The suction of the cups loosens tightly. overloaded muscles by pulling them up and away from underlying structures, releasing areas of adhesion and restriction, and retraining myofascial structures.
Within minutes, stiff, sore muscles quickly soften, and synovial fluid secretion is released into stiff joints, causing tissue stretching, increasing blood flow to the area, increasing skin temperature, promoting skin tissue metabolism for better sweat and sebaceous gland function, capillary flushing, draining stagnant blood, toxins and lymph and resupplying tissues with vital nutrients.
Cupping can be incorporated during massage treatment and used as a great tool. When used with massage and not left in one place for a long time, "color changes" are rare for clients who don't want them.
Cupping is the oldest and most widely used medical procedure in human history. Most cultures can provide historical evidence that some variation of cupping was regularly used in their medical history.
Suction therapy has been used by various indigenous tribes in Africa, Asia, the Pacific Islands and the Americas. The oldest tool used was the gourd, from this fruit derives the Latin name for cupping - 'Cucurbitula'
This evolved into the use of animal horns, usually, water buffalo or American bison, hollowed out with a hole at one end to allow air to be sucked out. The vacuum removed toxins from snake bites, pustules, infections, and skin lesions, removing blood, pus, and poisons from the body.
Cupping can sometimes be described as a "tissue distraction release" technique. During the cupping process, cups are slid over different parts of the body to lift and separate tissues. This works to improve the release of interfaces between nerve tissues, fascia, skin, ligaments, muscles, and tendons. It relaxes muscles, relieves trigger points, improves lymphatic flow, increases local circulation and loosens scar adhesion. Evidence supports cupping as an effective treatment method for several conditions, such as chronic neck pain, low back pain, and fibromyalgia.
There are three forms of cupping: longitudinal, transverse fiber and circular. The most common form is longitudinal, where the cup is slid lengthwise over the muscle fibers. A cross stitch is used when the tissue is thought to be scarred. A Circular is usually used at the end of a session to ensure that all areas have been covered.
It's no secret that cupping is a common and popular practice among athletes. In fact, several athletes from the 2016 Rio Olympics used cupping. A running patient with more than a year's history of iliotibial band (ITB) pain reported immediate relief after three minutes of cupping. The technique was repeated a week later. After just two cup sessions, he was symptom-free and back to his usual running routine.
While there are some concerns about cupping, there is the real science behind it. The suction inside the cups is created by negative pressure, which helps increase hydration and blood flow to body tissues, and relieves adhesions, Cupping can often be described as a "tissue distraction release" technique.
To lift and isolate the tissue, the cups are slid over different parts of the body during the cupping process. This works to increase the release of nerve tissues, fascia, skin, ligaments, muscles, and tendon interfaces. Relaxes muscles relieve trigger points, stimulates lymphatic flow, increases local circulation,, and loosens scar adhesion.
For many disorders, such as chronic neck pain, low back pain, and fibromyalgia, evidence supports cupping as an effective treatment technique.
There are three types of cupping: longitudinal, cross-grain,, and circular. Longitudinal is the most common form, where the cup is slid lengthwise over the fibers of the muscle.
A cross stitch is used when the tissue is thought to be scarred. A Circular is usually used at the end of a session to ensure that all areas have been covered.
It is no secret that the practice of cupping among athletes is common and widespread. Cupping was actually used by several athletes from the 2016 Rio Olympics.
After three minutes of cupping, a running patient with more than a year of iliotibial band (ITB) pain experienced immediate relief. A week later, the procedure was repeated.
After just two vials, he was symptom-free and back to his regular running program. and removes excess fluids. It is a versatile treatment that can be adapted to treat your condition as needed, whether you need a deep tissue massage or lymphatic drainage.
It is important to note that cupping is not a treatment method that will be performed on skin with wounds, infections, burns, or active inflammation. Sometimes it can create bruises on the skin that can last up to two weeks. Bruising usually clears up on its own over time and should not be a cause for concern.