Cautions of Cupping in cupping therapy

(1) When the patient is being treated by cupping, we should keep indoor air fresh and the temperature moderate. In summer, it is important to avoid fan’s straight blowing at the patient; in winter, we should keep indoor temperature warm enough for the patient, especially for those who take off clothes and expose skin outside to avoid cold.

(2) Doctors should remember to clean and disinfect the cups as well as their hands. The operator’s hands and the cupping sites of patients must be carefully cleaned or regularly disinfected, with cupping appliances included. Click here to learn Ulcerative Colitis in TCM.

(3) The edges of cupping tools must be smooth, with no damage.

(4) Cupping appliances should be proper chosen during cupping treatment. Cups should not be sucked too tight or loose, and if there are many cups, the distance between cups should not be too close so as not to cause pain when the cup suck the flesh and tear the skin, or not to make cups drop down due to crowdness.

(5) Doctors should master the skill of cupping practice. They should move cups up and down and daub oil or water on sites for times to maintain lubrication, to avoid scratching the skin.

(6) After cupping, in accordance with the patient’s pathogenetic conditions and the color of the skin, doctors should decide how long they stay the cups, taking seasonal affects in to consideration. If the pathobgenetic conditions are not serious and the skin is tender, cupping time should be slightly shortened in hot weather in summer. If patients’ pathogenetic conditions are serious and have rough skin, cupping time should be relatively prolonged in cold weather in winter. Click here to learn Proctitis in TCM.

(7) There would be some blisters, small water bead, bleeding spots, bruises on the skin and sometimes the patient would feel pruritic in some local skin after cupping, both of which are normal symptoms of the treatment.

(8) If there are some large blisters or damage spots on the skin after cupping, doctors should stave the blisters with disinfected needles, let the water out, and then daub with anti-corrosion tissue regeneration-promoting drugs on damaged area.

(9) Doctor should remember to ask patients’ feeling during cupping process. If the patient has such feelings as fever, a bear, acescence, the chilly air out, moderate warm on the part of cupping, they are all normal phenomenon of cupping; if the patient feels tight, comparatively painful or burning, doctors should remove cup promptly and practice it again; if the patient has no feeling after cupping, which indicates that the strength of suction may not be strong enough, doctors should also practice it again. Click here to learn Duodenitis in TCM.

(10) If the patient’s face turns pale, or the patient has the following symptoms like cold sweat, dizziness, panicky, nausea and vomit, cold extremities, cona, those are called dizziness of cupping. When doctors come across these symptoms, they should stop the practice and lay the patient down, then give him some warm boiled water and have him rest for a while and he will feel better later. If the symptom is serious, doctors should do acupuncture or press the acupoints of Baihui, Renzhong, Neiguan, Yongquan, Shanzuli, or Taichong. If necessary, the patients should be sent to a hospital for emergency treatment immediately. Doctors should prevent these unsuitable cases occuring at the old or the weak, children, those suffering psychentonia or hunger, or those who receive cupping treatment for the first time.

(11) Generally speaking, the patient should not bathe within 3 hours after cupping treatment.

(12) According to the patient’s conditions, if necessary, we could combine cupping with other treatments like acupuncture, massage, or herbs to strengthen therapeutic effect.