Housecall: Cupping therapy goes mainstream with modern applications

CTV Atlantic: Our Housecalls focuses on cupping Learn about the modern applications for the ancient Chinese technique of cupping in our Housecall.

The practice of cupping has been part of traditional Chinese medicine for thousands of years, rooted in the principals of acupuncture.

Cupping is becoming more mainstream, with modern applications of the technique being used for pain relief and injury treatments.

Registered massage therapist Suzanne Moroney has been incorporating cupping into her practice for the last three years.

“I typically use cupping more in the therapeutic sense, deep tissue, myofascial releasing and just trying to pull up tissues,” she explains.

Moroney uses plastic cups with an air pump to create suction. Fire-cupping is another popular form of the therapy; a flame is lit under the cup before it is applied to help suck up the skin. Both techniques offer similar results.

“Constantly, we’re pushing through tissue, so this is a way of lifting the tissue and getting blood flow through and then just breaking up scar tissue, muscle and fascial layers,” says Moroney.

Cupping is particularly helpful for athletes struggling with ongoing injuries.

“Sometimes athletes where they’re sometimes cramping, or they just can’t get a muscle to let go and finally get through their workouts or they just can’t heal,” says Moroney.

Athlete Kenny Burns turned to cupping after he injured his leg playing baseball. When deep tissue massage wasn’t helping, Moroney suggested cupping. Burns admits he was skeptical at first.

“When you just see these little plastic cups, you just think there is no way it is going to help,” says Burns. “Once we had gotten into it, I realized a couple weeks later, after several treatments,that it was starting to loosen the muscle up.”

After about four treatments, Burns was back on track with his training.

“I noticed that, at my workouts, I wasn’t cramping as much, my legs seemed to be looser and that muscle that I had torn prior to the cupping, so the benefits I had gotten weren’t just coming from the gym. There was no more cramping after I had gotten the treatment,” says Burns.

Burns has since had the treatment on his shoulder and chest. Broader surfaces work best, but cupping can be done on just about any part of the body.

The procedure can be a bit uncomfortable, but Burns says it hurts less the more you do it, and the results are worth it.