Is cupping good for me?
Yeesh, "That looks painful!"
Oh yes, for the tight muscles, cupping virgin, this could feel quite intense. But for people who are athletes, very stiff, and having had therapeutic massages, this could be AMAZING. Actually, my personal favorite.
What's cupping for anyway?
If you ask my mom, she'll tell you it's for everything under the sun. But if you asked me, objectively, I'll say it is great for people with musculoskeletal pain. In other words, you're having some very tight muscles! It's also could be used for people who have colds.
How does it work?
Short answer - improve circulation! Any part of your healing process is highly dependent on your body's ability to circulate good nutrients to and fro the area of injury, trauma, or pain points. With cupping, you're literally physically pulling the layers apart as much as you can. In doing so, you're increasing the space between the different layers, be it very small, but at least better than what it is if it were just sitting there. Massage therapists do something similar, like "grasping" or "pulling" when they're providing treatment. This goes in line with the Chinese Medicine's form of orthopedic massage known as TUINA.
Want to find out if it's good for you?
Short study good for the soul on how cupping can help with neck and shoulder pain.
