Preparations of Cupping in cupping therapy

Preparations of cupping take vital role in the treatment, which is directly related to the curative effect of cupping, and it will prone to cause accidents if neglected.
1. Select the appropriate posture for the suffer
Cupping treatment takes about 10 to 30 minutes. Despite it require a short time, the patient is asked to maintain a certain position and can not move at will. Otherwise, the air is prone to leak out from the cup and the cup will drop down. So the patient should choose a comfortable posture for cupping treatment, which not only can reduce discomfort of the patient, but also is helpful to the operation of cupping. Click here to learn Degenerative Arthritis in TCM.

2. Clean-up the suction sites
If the suction site has less subcutaneous fat or it is on the dry skin, doctors should use a clean warm towel to wipe the surface before cupping to avoid air leakage and scalds of the skin; if the suction parts are on the place of rugosity or multichannel carbuncle or ulcers and so on, doctors should use the external pad; if the parts affect are dry and hard due to pyocutaneous disease, doctors should use the disinfected warm and humid towels to macerate the suction parts before hand, which will relieve the pain and make the cup sucked much deeply and thoroughly; if the cupping treatment needs to be applied to hairy areas or some places nearby, doctors should shave the hair in advance and daub some Vaseline or face-mats at suction parts; if the patient is not will to shave or can not be shaved, doctors could use hot soapy water clean the hair, skin, and then daub appropriate amount of Vaseline or stick a sheer of damp clothing (or wet paper) so as not to damage the skin. Click here to learn Tuberculous Lymphadenitis in TCM.

3. The selection and preparation of cupping apparatus
According to the size that gonna be cupped, we should choose the appropriate models of cups. The common method is that we should choose cups depending on the suction areas: big ones for the parts which are wide and full of soft tissues, such as the back, chest, waist, hips, thighs; middle ones for the parts like the neck, shoulders, upper arm, forearm and leg; small ones for the parts which are lacking in soft tissue or unweave due to bone uplift, such as joints, surface of the head, distal forearm, hands back. Click here to learn Frozen Shoulder in TCM.

In the cold season, in order to avoid cold feeling of the suffer, we should bake the cupping apparatus on fire in advance (only the bottom of the cups baked). When the temperature of the cupping apparatus gets close to the skin temperature, we could operate cupping treatment. In addition, we should also prepare the drugs and equipment for skin damage and accidents like faint for the suffer when cupping.