Cupping Therapy
Cupping Therapy or Hijamah
Introduction, Meaning, Types, Benefits & A Brief History
Cupping Therapy - Meaning
One way to think about cupping is that it is the inverse of massage. Rather than applying pressure to muscles, the suction uses negative pressure to pull the skin, tissue, and muscles upward to stimulate muscles and blood flow, while relieving pain.
Cupping was developed thousands of years ago and though the techniques have modernized, the original philosophy remains the same.
Cupping involves placing glass, bamboo or plastic jars on the skin and creating a vacuum by suctioning out the air. The underlying tissue is raised, or sucked, partway into the cup. The purpose of cupping is:
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Remove "heat" and pull out the toxins & pathogenic substances that linger in your body's tissues.
You usually will feel a tight sensation in the area of the cup. Often, this sensation is relaxing and soothing. Depending on your comfort and your practitioner's assessment of the problem, cups may be moved around or left in place. They may remain on your body briefly or for longer amounts of time. Each treatment is unique to you on that particular day. One very common area to be cupped is the back, although cups work well on other areas, too — particularly on fleshy sections of the body.
Cupping causes the skin to temporarily turn red, blue or purple, especially if there is an injury or energetic blockage under the area that was . The skin discoloration can last anywhere from a few days to a couple of weeks, but is rarely painful. Once the marks have cleared, the procedure can be repeated until the condition or ailment is resolved.cupped
Cupping Therapy - A Brief History
The practice of cupping is over 5000 Years old. The effect has remained the same; only the cups and the techniques have changed over these many years. We can find the application of suction cups in the medicine of all “Primitive” people, as well as in the oldest civilizations. Reports about the art of cupping were already to be found in ancient Chinese and Egyptian medical scriptures. The Greek Physician, Hippocrates (400 BCE), who is known as the “Father of Medicine” was also very familiar with the method.
The history of medicine Confirms that cupping (Hijama) was used successfully until the first half of the 19th century, not only in private practice but also in hospitals. In the course of the 19th century, however, great discoveries occurred that were fundamentally significant for medicine. A chemical industry developed quickly, and chemical drugs were introduced into medicine as results of that development.
Cupping Therapy - Types
There are primarily 2 types of cupping therapies viz-
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Dry Cupping
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Wet Cupping ( Hijamah)
Dry cupping (suction only)
Wet cupping (combination of suction and controlled medicinal bleeding)
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Cupping Therapy - Benefits
Cupping has numerous benefits:
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it removes toxins & Pathogenic substances from the body.
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Stimulates the flow of fresh blood, lymph, and Qi to the affected area and throughout the body.
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Works wonders for patients with the flu, colds, coughs, back and muscle pain, poor circulation, anxiety, red itchy skin conditions (though cups are not applied to inflamed areas), allergies, fevers, aches and myriad other pains.
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Blood disorders such as anemia
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Rheumatic diseases such as arthritis and fibromyalgia
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Fertility and gynecological disorders
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Skin problems such as eczema and acne
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Hypertension or high blood pressure
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Migraine
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Anxiety and depression
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Bronchial congestion caused by allergies and asthama
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Varicose vein .... and many more.
In modern medicine, there is no treatment modality that can purify both blood and interstitial fluids from noxious substances that are responsible for (or resulting from) disease pathogenesis. There is no physiological mechanism to excrete excess unwanted substances in blood (and interstitial fluids) that may disturb blood chemistry and physiological homeostasis causing different diseases e.g. high serum iron and ferritin in conditions of iron overload (e.g. thalassemia, hemochromatosis and bronze diabetes), high serum cholesterol, triglycerides and low density lipoproteins (LDL) in hyperlipidemia and atherosclerosis, high serum uric acid in gout and high interstitial fluid urate in gouty arthritis and others. Al-hijamah (wet cupping therapy) excretes all the above-mentioned noxious substances.
