CUPPING
“After a couple with months with cupping, acupuncture and e-stim treatments, I am now feeling minimal pain and have gotten back to full exercise and activities that were very painful previously” - John B. of Morristown, NJ
Cupping is one of the earliest medical treatments documented. It has been used to treat many medical conditions for millennia. Cupping uses glass, plastic or wooden cups that are suctioned by heat or pumps to create a tight seal on the skin.
While its origins are shrouded in the mystery of the past, cupping was used in ancient Egypt, Greece, and of course China. In modern times cup marks can be frequently seen on athletes, most famously Michael Phelps in the 2016 Rio Olympics.
The Acupuncture Center of New Jersey provides cupping in Morristown, NJ for a variety of conditions. We primarily use cupping to treat muscular tension and orthopedic issues because of it’s powerful effect on blood flow and its ability to deeply effect muscles without compressing joint spaces. It has been shown to be effective in clinical trials. Cupping can also treat a variety of other health conditions, including shingles, headaches, and relieving colds and fever.
How cupping works - as muscles become tense and tight, the small capillaries that provide blood flow become compressed, and flow of nutrients to the muscle fibers is cut off. The “old” blood stagnates in the tissue and leads to inflammatory responses, leading to pain and delayed healing. Cupping pulls these stagnant blood cells to the surface of the body where they can be recycled by the lymphatic system, allowing the muscles to be refreshed with new blood and nutrients.
