Wellness

[colliemom4]

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@PilatesLover wrote:

I get it occasionally when my shoulders seize up. It is amazing and detoxing, too. I have to keep hydrating after a session because I'm up peeing half the night.

If you haven't had it, ask the therapist to start gently. You'll feel a little beat up the next day, and have marks from it.

There are two kinds - one where the therapist takes all these little glass jars, candles inside of them and applies them while there's still smoke in the jar. Your flesh gets sucked up into them for the duration. Usually acupuncturists do this version.

The cupping massage uses a suction cup sort of device and they glide it along and then leave it when suction is established. I have had both. The latter is more massage like. Both are very effective for muscle spasms.

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@PilatesLover wrote:

I get it occasionally when my shoulders seize up. It is amazing and detoxing, too. I have to keep hydrating after a session because I'm up peeing half the night.

If you haven't had it, ask the therapist to start gently. You'll feel a little beat up the next day, and have marks from it.

There are two kinds - one where the therapist takes all these little glass jars, candles inside of them and applies them while there's still smoke in the jar. Your flesh gets sucked up into them for the duration. Usually acupuncturists do this version.

The cupping massage uses a suction cup sort of device and they glide it along and then leave it when suction is established. I have had both. The latter is more massage like. Both are very effective for muscle spasms.

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@PilatesLover  I have read it causes you to urinate a lot after the procedure. Did you become extremly thirsty? I've heard that as well. I was going to try acupuncture but my insurance doesn't cover it.

[HisElk1]

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@PilatesLover wrote:

I get it occasionally when my shoulders seize up. It is amazing and detoxing, too. I have to keep hydrating after a session because I'm up peeing half the night.

If you haven't had it, ask the therapist to start gently. You'll feel a little beat up the next day, and have marks from it.

There are two kinds - one where the therapist takes all these little glass jars, candles inside of them and applies them while there's still smoke in the jar. Your flesh gets sucked up into them for the duration. Usually acupuncturists do this version.

The cupping massage uses a suction cup sort of device and they glide it along and then leave it when suction is established. I have had both. The latter is more massage like. Both are very effective for muscle spasms.

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@PilatesLover, I've had the method you describe in your last paragraph.  The PT I go to also does the myfascial release along with the cupping.  I had a total reverse shoulder replacement in the latter of 2017.  The place that I went to for 7 months didn't do much to alleviate the spasms.  I found her and after having just a few sessions with the release and cupping, I wished I had found her earlier. 

I still go and see her each month for a "tune up" and it really helps with the muscle spams.

[PilatesLover]

@colliemom4  Yes, you do feel the need to rehydrate afterward.

[colliemom4]

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@PilatesLover wrote:

@colliemom4  Yes, you do feel the need to rehydrate afterward.

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@PilatesLover  Thanks for the information.

[sfnative]

@Mom2Dogs 

My daughter uses cupping in her practice, so I asked her to provide a brief summary.  Between patients today, she provided the following:

"The technique and science was developed by practitioners of Chinese Medicine. Generally there are 2 applications: 1. Chinese doctors and acupuncturists will use the cups along the meridians to move energy and affect the points along those lines. 2. Western practitioners like LMTs, PTs, Chiropractors, and some acupuncturists are using it for soft tissue release.

  The cups can be applied and used in a stationary position for 5-10 minutes, or are moved and glided over the body. 

  You get the suction either through using plastic cups and a manual pump (which I use), or glass cups and the practitioner sticks a burning cotton ball in the cup just for a second to burn off the oxygen to achieve a seal. This is very often misunderstood. The flame is NOT to heat the cups or to burn the client. It’s merely to burn off the oxygen to create a vacuum in the cup, so when applied to the skin it will suck up the tissue inside the cup. In some extreme circumstances, I’ve heard of Chinese doctors using the flame to heat the cup and perform different techniques and applications of the cups, but it’s highly specialized and rare. In most cases, if a client gets burned by a cup from fire cupping, it’s that the therapist did it incorrectly.

  Ok, now onto the benefits. One of the major soft tissue benefits is that cupping is extremely efficient and good at myofascial release. Also, because of the suction it’s a lifting or vertical technique. I can’t get my fingers under the muscles, but the cups can lift muscles and fascia off of what it’s stuck to underneath. Another benefit is that when applied around a joint, it can create space and mobility (ex. applied all around a frozen shoulder can help get all the tissue and joint moving). Finally, it flushes out toxins, can decrease inflammation, and increases circulation.

  Finally, a note about the discoloration it can cause. Sometimes it leaves temporary marks on the skin. They look brutal but a) they do not hurt and b) they’re a sign of accumulation of old blood and toxins stuck in the tissue and c) it’s superficial like a hickey, not a deep bruise of pooled blood."

[Mom2Dogs]

@sfnative  thank you to you and  to your daughter for the great explanation.  I had never heard of this until a friend mentioned it.  We thought it could also help with fat removal, but not sure that is true.  It sure is an interesting procedure.

[sfnative]

@Mom2Dogs 

Hi, momtodogs,

Glad the information was interesting to you.  No, it has no use regarding fat removal.  However, if you've watched tv or seen magazine advertisements for a procedure using what looks like an ultrasound transducer or stylus - and, of course, I cannot recall the name of the procedure - I had this done once a week over the course of maybe 6-7 months about 14 years ago, when I was on a 1200 calorieNutraSystem diet to lose weight. 

In order to use this procedure, you have to purchase what looks like a full-body leotard (neck to toe).  Mine was white.  But, then again, that was 14 years ago.  The tech then turned on the machine, picked up the transducer/stylus and gently rubbed it over those areas on my body where I stored more fat than others.  Toward the end of the 6-7 months, it was more sculpting than anything else.

I'll tell you this.  At the time, the cost was $750 and I was extremely skeptical - extremely!!!  And, all that money!  However, due to some physical limitations, I was only able to minimally exercise, so I thought what the heck.  (Had just completed knee surgery rehab - a complicated surgery.)

So...with NutraSystem (that's when they had brick and mortar, which was great) and this procedure, which is still available, I lost 50 lbs and really loved the way I looked. 

My brain has hit a brick wall with regard to the name of the procedure.  Would I do it again under the same circumstances?  Absolutely, yes.  Maybe someone reading this can provide the name of the procedure.

[Mom2Dogs]

@sfnative ..your sculpting procedure sounds interesting and best of all you were pleased with the results.

I am about 10-12 lbs overweight...and extra weight is in my thighs, my fat storage area!  I have found as I have gotten a bit older (64 this year) weight does not come off as easy, as we all know.

I still work in the yard, walk when I can, we also have a recumbent bike that I use when the weather is cooler.... and really don't over eat, but....the stubborn weight does not budge.  I think I am fairly active but heavy exercising is not for me..I have arthritis and stenosis in my back as well as thinning bones...not that I cannot exercise but I do watch what I do...several years ago I put myself in world of hurt (the entire summer) moving large stones around in the yard, so now I am very cautious.  Thanks for sharing!

[sfnative]

@Mom2Dogs 

I know what you mean about being limited in activity due to "thinning bones."  I was the recipient of the osteoporosis gene from my Dad.  On his side of the family just about everyone has it and many broken bones to show for it, the most painful being the vertebral compression fractures.  My Auntie Jay had 10 of those before her passing.  She was in such pain.  Like you, I watch every single thing I do, as I'm an ortho wreck, mostly due to inherited "hypermobile joints (ligaments/tendons)."

And, in the winter my husband wants to go for a walk in the ice and snow and I tell him he's nuts, that I'm not going.  He thinks I'm chicken.  Just can't get through to him that I'm not willing to take the risk.

[Deree]

I had a shoulder injury from working out and tried everything to avoid surgery including acupuncture which included cupping.  Unfortunately I had a pretty bad reaction to the cupping.  It left huge red painful welts (not just the red circles) on my body that took quite a few days to calm down.  Everyone reacts differently though.