Hijama (Cupping) Therapy

During a fire cupping session the practitioner holds a flame inside a glass cup, which temporarily expands the air from inside the cup. The heat source is then removed, and the cup is quickly overturned and applied to the client’s bare skin, most often on his back. The air in the cup rapidly contracts as it cools the cup, which creates the seal. Usually a number of cups are applied in this way, allowed to sit for 10-15 mins, and then removed. In some cases the area to be cupped may be covered in massage oil prior to placement of cups to ensure the cup can slid up and down and area – this is also known as sliding cupping and is often used with musculoskeletal symptoms.

Wet cupping is also known as bleeding cupping or hijama. This is a popular method of cupping in both muslim medicine and east asian medicine. Because we are dealing with blood and body fluids we have to take some additional steps to ensure compliance with state and federal infection control guideline. We use singles-use sterile cups, single use, sterile lancets for puncturing the skin, sterilise the area prior to applying the cups and of course we wear gloves to protect you and us. We ask that you trim any body hair on the areas where the cups are to be applied.

In Chinese Remedial massage often clothing is not removed. Depending on the area to be massaged, you may be asked to lie down on a massage table or sit in a massage chair. The therapist will first massage your muscles using a variety of massage movements, including compression, kneading, rubbing, pressing and percussion. The therapist may also use traditional liniments to enhance the effect of the massage treatment. Gua Sha is the use of a ceramic soup spoon or similar smooth edged tool to scrape on oiled skin. Gua sha is also known as spooning and is used as another massage technique.