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The best Chinese medicine technique for
reducing the appearance of cellulite is cupping.
How Cupping Works to Reduce Cellulite
By creating suction and negative pressure, cupping loosens
adhesions and lifts connective tissue, bringing blood flow to stagnant muscles
and skin. The effect on the nervous system is sedating and is widely used for
high blood pressure, anxiety, fatigue, chronic headache, neuralgia, and
rheumatism. It also helps with breaking down adhesions and softening the
appearance of cellulite. Lymph drainage using Cupping can benefit pre- and
post-operative conditions and may assist in the healing process.
Thighs, hips, buttocks, the abdomen, and arms are usually
the areas that are focused on for Weight-loss or Cellulite treatments, while
more overall treatments can be used for overall detoxification treatments.
What is Cupping?
Cupping is a technique in which a glass cup or bamboo jar
is suctioned onto the body and allowed to sit for about 10 minutes. Cupping
stimulates the flow of blood, lymph, and Qi to the affected area; relieves
swelling; and greatly enhances an acupuncture or electro-acupuncture treatment.
Its uses include cellulite reduction, relieving muscle pain, especially back
pain from stiffness or injury; and clearing congestion in the chest, which can
occur with common colds and influenza.
Cupping is usually incorporated into an acupuncture of
bodywork treatment, but can be used alone. The practitioner takes a glass cup
or bamboo jar, roughly the size of a jar of baby food, and ignites a small
flame inside the cup, creating a vacuum. The cup is then quickly applied to the
body, drawing the skin up a few millimeters into the cup. This suction
stimulates the flow of blood, lymph, and Qi to the affected area. The suction
can leave red marks on the skin that last a few days.
For cellulite treatments, oil is applied to the skin and
then the cup is moved up and down the area. This creates a sort of massage with
the cup.
Each cupping session lasts approximately 10 to 15 minutes
and it can be repeated, once the marks have cleared, until the condition is
resolved.
Desiree Potter had acupuncture and cupping for a crick in
her neck. She tells Acufinder: ”I must have slept wrong. When I woke up I
couldn’t turn my neck. I went to see an acupuncturist who used cupping. By the
end of the treatment I could move my neck again, and after one more
appointment, the pain was completely gone and I had full range of motion.”
Potter says that cupping has a sensation all its own. “It
kind of feels like the opposite of a massage because your skin and muscles are
being * up instead of pushed down,” she says. “But it felt great and was very
relaxing.”
And the red marks? “The cups did leave dark red marks on
my back that lasted for a few days, but they did not hurt. I would definitely
get cupping again!”
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