Common Cupping Methods

1. Routine cupping therapy
Routine cupping is common cupping in clinical practice, divided into two types, single-cup cupping and multi-cup cupping.
(1) Single-cup cupping: if the size of site that diseases affect is rather small, doctors should choose one proper cup for cupping according to the range of pathological changes or the sites painfully pressed. For example, we can cup zhongwanyi for gasteralgia, neiguan for arrhythmia, tianshu for abnormal stool, taiyang for Headache, jianjing for stiff neck and so on.

(2) Multi-cup cupping: multi-cup cupping means using many cups in proceeding cupping. It can be subdivided into two categories, lined cupping and scattered cupping, applicable to the sufferers who have wide range of pathological changes, chubby muscle in cupped site, and many sensitivity responses points. If the patient suffers muscle strain, doctors should line the cups along muscle meridian, which is called lined cupping, applicable to strong and distinct symptom sufferers. If sufferers are weak and have light symptoms, doctors scatter the cups to pathological sites, which is called scattered cupping.  Click here to learn Chronic Pancreatitis in TCM.

2. Twinkling cupping
Twinkling cupping means that doctors clamp the alcohol cotton ball with tweezers, and take it to the bottom of cup after lighted and then pull it out, put the cup to the site, remove the cup and then repeat the practice till the erubescence appears. This repeated traction, relaxation, makes skin blood perfusion and reperfusion improves the blood circulation and irritates nerves and blood vessels. This method applies to exogenous cold, flaccidity soft muscle, skin numbness, weakness of the mechanism may be after-effects such as disease and stroke. In cupping flash operation, doctors should be quick enough to twinkle into the cup. Fire in cup mouth must not stay too long, to avoid burning the skin. If repeating for times, doctors should continue with another cup when a cup is too hot. Click here to learn Chronic Antral Gastritis in TCM.

3. The stationary cupping
Stationary cupping is the commonly used method of cupping. Generally, it is used for all kind of diseases. After the cup sucked on the skin, doctors should keep the cup for 10 or 15 minutes until erubescence, congestive or bruises appears on the skin. If cups are sucked on the delicate skin during the summer or strong suction force with infrared lamps at the same time, the time of cupping should not be too long. In addition, the treatment can be combined with pushing and pulling, or wiggling the cup during the stationary suction to stimulate and enhance therapeutic effect.

4．Moving cupping
Moving cupping method is also known as pushing cupping, pulling cupping, or walking cupping etc. In this method, glass cups or plexi-glass cups with thick and smooth mouth and no damage or should be used. At first, doctors should daub some lubricant such as vaseline, suet oil on the cup mouth or on the skin before cupping. After the cup sucked on skin, the operator should hold the cup. According to the needs and conditions, the operator could adopt the method of moving cupping and anatomical structures, to carry out the push-pull movement from top to bottom, from right to left, or around the circumference direction until erubescence, congestive, or even bruises appears on the skin. Click here to learn Superficial Gastritis in TCM.

If stimulation should be strengthened, doctors can raise and press the cup during the process of cupping treatment with the movement of pushing, pulling or rotating. Doctors should also slightly push, pull or rotate the cups, that is, use great force to take the cup off. If the sites are large and with huge muscles, such as abdomen and back, waist and hip, thigh etc., it is used for the meridian of qi and blood block and repeat it for many times. When you take the cup off always with sound, it is also called the sound cupping, which is applicable to the meridian of qi and blood block-up, visceral dysfunction and a variety of such illnesses. When you remove the cupping, the speed of push or pull, and the speed of rotation should not be so fast, which would easily lead to pain, the distance between each push-pull movement should not be too long, the movement of push and pull should not stop until erubescence, dark red or sunstroke appear on the skin.

5. Fire cupping
This is a common method of cupping. It combusts the air in the cup by ignition, then forms negative pressure there, for which the cup can suck the body surface. Cupping exhaust uses ignition to exhaust some air for cupping, there are six common methods as follows:
1) Cupping after putting fire in the cup: This method is more often applied to vertical lateral parts of the body. It uses nippers to clamp alcohol cotton then ignite it and put it into the cup when you operate this method, then cover cup quickly on the site which is about to be sucked; You also can fold soft paper slightly or make paper into rolls (about three centimeters longer than cup’s depth), ignite it as it burns about three centimeters, then put it into the cup, quickly cover cups on the site of skin before the paper burns out.

2) Cotton-burning cupping: This method is applied to vertical lateral parts of body. Firstly, you should use of a absorbent cotton about 0.5 to 1 square centimeters when you operate it, you draw the four edge of cotton then soak some alcohol, stick to the up-middle of the cup after ignition and cover the cup quickly on the site which is about to be sucked. Be cautious to the cotton which should not be too thick or with too much alcohol. Otherwise, the cotton would drop down easily or the alcohol would flow out to burn the patients. Click here to learn Anal Fissure in TCM.

(3) Alcohol fire cupping: this method is applicable to all parts of body. When you operate it, you should dip some alcohol on the bottom of the cup and keep the cup mouth upward then put it vertically, rotate the cup 1-3 circle, so that alcohol evenly stick to the walls of cups (Do not put alcohol onto the cup mouth, avoid burning the skin). After ignition you hold the cup bottom and rapidly cover the cup on skin which is going to be sucked. The method is simple, applicable to home care, and you needn’t any other assistants when you operate it. Be cautious to not dip too much alcohol, in case that the flame would follow alcohol flow out and burns patients.

4) Cupping after flash fire: The method is suitable for every part of body. When you operate it, you should use a nipper to clamp alcohol cotton, or one iron wire about 10-centimeter thick, and use absorbent cotton and absorbent gauze to wrap one end of the wire as a small drumstick, which can soak some alcohol and ignite it then put it into cup and rotate it for a while, at last take cotton ball off quickly, cover cups on the skin. If it needs strong suction, you could burn alcohol cotton ball in the up-middle side of the cup wall to daub with rotation on the wall, burning alcohol inside, and then you should take the cotton out quickly and cover cups on the site which is about to be sucked. The cotton should be not too much alcohol-soaked because it may flow out and burn the skin. Click here to learn Intestinal Obstruction in TCM.

5) Cupping of put up fire: this method is applied to the wide area and limbs with huge flat muscle, with the prone and supine position. It is characterized by burning without time limitation. When you choose this method, you could select among two methods as follows: ①you could use inflammable soft clothing or soft paper wraped a coin or similar items, making it as shuttlecock-shaped ignition shelf, then place it on suction site, and ignite one corner of clothing or paper. At last, you should cover cups quickly on the sites which is gonna be sucked. ②you can use non-flammable, adiabatic items about 2 to 3 cm in diameter such as bakelite soda bottle caps, wood chips, tangerine pericarp, and put it on center of suction site, then put a cotton ball on the alcohol after ignition you can cover cups immediately.

6) Cupping by spring shelf: you should put a spring-like shelf into cupping jar near the bottom of cup twist one end of spring as a clasp, and use cotton to wrap the end of hook, hang it in the central cup. When you practice it, you should drop some alcohol on the cotton ball, ignite it and cover the cup on the site which is about to be sucked. The spring shelf can be repeatedly used.

6. Water cupping
This method refers to put half-a-cup warm water into each cup and then deduct the cups to acupoints or parts of the body treated after the flash of fire. This method applies to affection of exotenous wind-cold, high feaver absent sweating, cough, stomach-ache, rheumatic diseases, lumbago and so on. Click here to learn Viral Hepatitis in TCM.

7. Herbal cupping (cupping assisted by herbs)
The operation of the decocting cupping method is to wrap the herbs with gauzes, put them in to a cooking pot and decoct the herbs with proper quantity of water. After the water is boiling, doctors should put the bamboo cups or wood cups into the pot to be decocted for 3 to 5 minutes and then clip them out, cover the cups with clean dry towels in order to absorb the physic liquor and lower their temperature. Then doctors should put the cups quickly to the afflicted parts or acupoints when the cup is still hot and hold and press the cups slightly for about half a minute, letting them suck the treated acupoints. This method is the combination of the cupping and the traditional Chinese medicine, which not only can educe dual effects of cupping and the medicine but also have the lukewarm effects, usually applicable to wind-cold-wetness bype of arthralgia. However, doctors must be skillful enough for operating; otherwise, it will lead to deficient suction.

8. Acucupping
The full name of the acucupping is needle-sustaining cupping, which uses acupuncture needles to pick into acupoints and stays the needle after manipulating and cup the center of acupuncture points. When doing acucupping, doctors usually adopt glass cups because they can observe the conditions them. Doctors should caution that in the operation, the length of the needle-holder should not be too long in order to avoid touching the bottom of the cup and getting them immersed into the body. This method has the double functions of acupuncture and cupping and it can improve clinical curative effect, applicable to altauna and various kinds of soft tissue urgent chronic injuries. Click here to learn Peptic Ulcer in TCM.

9. Stabbing blood cupping
Stabbing blood cupping, also named as venesection cupping, is a common clinical treatment as well as a kind of combination of spicule blood and ventouse. Its clinical operation has two ways as follows:
1) Venesection before cupping: this method is to disinfect the cupped point, use the triangle-edged needles to insert fast until bleeding and then cup again, so as to strengthen the effect spicule blood treatment. This method is commonly used for erysipelas, mammary abscess, STI and congestion caused by fracture. Rigid disinfection must be done when you use this method, and the cup should be sustained for about ten to fifty minutes and the blood should be wiped out by the disinfected sponge. The sufferers who suffer thrombocytopenia, hemophilia leukemia illness must not be treated with this method.

2) Shallow puncture: this method is done with a triangle-edged needle, or a thickness acupuncture needle or a flat-mouthed knife after disinfection of the skin. The quantity of stimulus is divided into three kinds: light spicule, midest and remise light spicule. We should take skin flush as the degree, as for the light spicule; for the midest one, we should take has a little bleed as the degree; for the remise one, we should take the PH as a degree. And then we should ventouse at the venesection point (spicule blood) and sustain the cup for about ten to fifteen ninutes, taking the blood volume of five to ten milliliter as the degree and wipe dry the staxis with the degerming cotton ball after removal of the cup. This method is applicable to diseases with short course, heavy symptom, easy stimulation as well as the syndrome red, heat, pain, itch on the skin. So it can cure low back pain, rheumatalgia, muscle strain, neurodermitis, erysipelas, itch of skin, infectivity fever, hypertension and so on.  Patients whose body is weak usually should not be treated by this method.
 
10. Teasing sha cupping
Teasing sha cupping is a method that is combined teasing sha with cupping. When doing this,you should choose the cupping sites (acupoints) first, then get them cupped (moving cupping for the best and remove the cup until the violet red spots appear on the skin. If we should sustain the cups, the time should be prolonged and the suction should be strong. Next, you should use the disinfected needles prick-acupunture the obviously points, which appear violet red or purple black, two or three times on each point and stop until staxis appears on the skin, and then wipe up with gossypium absorbens. This method is applicable to diseases like hot stroke, unconscious eruption, infectivity fever rheumatic, arthralgia, dysmenorrheal, neuralgia and so on. Click here to learn Hemorrhoids in TCM.

11. Warn cupping
Warm cup is the way not only can prevent from the cold, but also can improve curative effect by using rays, soul light, zhouling frequency spectrograph to irradiate on the treatment points at the time of sustaining the cups. This therapy has double functions of cupping and thermotherapy, usually applicable to the diseases of deficient cold and cold wetness in cold wet seasons.

12. Guasha cupping (Cupping assisted by guasha)
It is a treatment of combining guasha with cupping. Usually, doctors practice guasha before cupping or practice cupping before guasha, with the former comparatively commonly used. Doctors should put quantity sufficient smoothing oil (milk) to chosen points (acupoints) on the skin when using shuiniujiao boards to practice guasha. If combined with moving cupping, the time of guasha should be shortened; in other words, we can apply moving cupping on the guasha sites when the skin turns red. If combined with stationary cupping, the time should be prolonged, make the cups sucking when the skin turns red, purple or dark purple. This method has significant curative effects and generally used in treating CS, periarthritis of shoulder, prolapse of intervertebral disc, lumbar muscle strain, neuralgia, asthma, arthralgia, disadvantage in extend, HBP, acne and so on. Click here to learn Fatty Liver in TCM.

13. Moxibustion cupping (cupping assisted by moxibustion)
Moxibustion cupping is a combined therapy of moxibustion and cupping. As usual, doctors practice moxibustion on the chosen points first and then cup, which can enhance the effects with cupping and enhance to clearing and activating the channels and collateral, reek chilliness, dispel cold wetness, promoting qi to activate blood by the medicine-like fuctions and lukewarm of moxibustion .
Moxa cone cupping: this method is classified into two types: direct cupping and indirect cupping. The direct one refers to knead the moxa to a thing with tip bottom flat cop moxa cone and put them on the skin and do cupping directly. The indirect one refers to putting some medium materials (eg: a piece of ginger) between the moxa cone and the skin. When doctors use the methods mentioned above, they should change the moxa cone and the padding the moment that the patient feel very hot, and apply cupping after acupuncture, on the basis on erubescence for signals. This method is widely applied to diseases caused by exogenous pathogenic factors, such as cough with humid asthma, nephrasthenia syndrome, anemfrigid-damp arthralgia, women deficiency of vital energy. Click here to learn Enlarged Spleen in TCM.

14. Massage Cupping
Massage cupping is the method combining massage with cupping, which can be divided into two kinds: massage before cupping and cupping before massage. The former refers to doing all kinds of massage on the chosen parts according to the conditions of the patient. In order to enhance the effect of the massage, we add cupping after the massage. The later refers to the skin appear subcutaneous nodule and purple spot by cupping and then massage on the dark purple spot and the subcutaneous nodule, the purpose of it is to enhance the effect of the cupping and dispel the knot and promote the absorbing of ecchymosis. Massage cupping is widely used for curing all kinds of diseases in clinical practice.