A while ago Gwyneth Paltrow (left) caused a stir when she showed up to an event in a dress that exposed odd circles up and down her spine, turns out they were the result of Chinese cupping acupuncture. So I decided to delve a little deeper into what seems like a tortures treatment.

What Is Cupping?
Cupping is a form of acupuncture and acupuncture itself has been practiced as a form of medicine in China for nearly 2500 years. Cupping is an alternative to the more traditional needles.

Doctors of traditional Chinese medicine and practitioners of Japanese shiatsu therapy, place the cups at various positions along the meridian lines. These are the same lines used in acupuncture. There are five meridians on the back and these are usually targeted, particularly the bladder meridian.

It is possible to cup the hands, legs and ankles too. By cupping these meridian lines, specific organs in the body can be targeted.

Cupping is generally used by practitioners if there is cold energy in the patient's meridians. The warm air from the cupping stimulates the skin, and the suction coaxes blood to the area which promotes localised healing. The chi is warmed and starts to flow freely down the meridians.

The basic concept behind cupping is suction. There are two methods by which cupping is performed.

Fire Cupping Method
The traditional method is administered by taking a glass cup or jar containing a cotton ball swabbed with alcohol. The cotton ball is then ignited. After the cotton ball has been removed, the cup is then placed at a specific location on the patient's skin. Because of the vacuum created inside the cup, the patient's skin then rises up inside the cup and blood flow rushes to the area, just like what happens when you get a hickey.

Suction Cup Method
The newest innovation in cupping does away with the dangerous flame and uses a pump action instead. This is also a much more accurate way of gauging the degree of suction and, of course, eliminates the risk of burning.

Why give it a try?
Its believed cupping improves circulation, benefits menstrual and digestive problems, relives pain in the muscles, especially back pain from stiffness or injury, and clears congestion in the chest, which can occur with colds.

(Our designer Mirror after her cupping treatment - check out those marks!)

 

A typical therapy session lasts about 15-20 minutes and can be repeated, if necessary, after the red skin marks/bruises disappear.

Does Cupping Hurt?
Patients report that the sensation during treatment simply feels as if something or someone is tugging at their skin, there are apparently no reports of pain.

So next time you spy Gwyneth on the red carpet covered in bruises, rest assured, she hasn't gotten herself into a fight, she's just been cupping.