Types of Hijama Therapy
Hijama is an ancient, holistic therapy practiced for millennia that has recently seen renewed interest among Olympic athletes and pregnant pop singers alike.
There are two primary forms of cupping therapy – Dry Cupping and Wet Cupping. Both forms offer benefits to the body in their own ways.
Dry Cupping
Dry cupping is an innovative treatment method in which cups are placed onto the skin to create suction and stimulate blood flow, either fixed in place or moved about according to what works best for your condition. Cupping Melbourne can also be combined with traditional sports or deep tissue massage therapies to relieve pressure off of their hands and wrists and create less tension during their application.
Cups may be constructed of glass, bamboo, plastic or any combination thereof. Cups are heated using either an alcohol-soaked cotton ball in the fire or pump to evacuate air out and create a vacuum inside each cup before being placed onto the skin and left there for several minutes before moving them as desired over your body. Some therapists add massage oil to their cups in order to increase flexibility; this step isn’t essential though.
Once the cups are applied, blood is drawn into them via hemostasis, stimulating release of your natural inflammatory response and stretching of muscles, fascia and connective tissues. Furthermore, new blood vessels form and bring waste products, oxygen and nutrition directly to damaged areas in your body.
Shestopal suggests that cupping sessions tend to leave participants sore afterward; this pain, she says, should generally be considered “good sore.” You may notice red or purple circular marks where the cups were applied but these tend to fade within several days or weeks.
Wet Cupping
At wet cupping sessions, therapists use cups on various parts of your body and apply negative pressure to create suction by applying negative pressure to them. The suction decompresses the area while pulling blood to the surface for increased circulation. When completed, the cup is removed and small cuts made in raised skin using a sterile surgical blade before replacing it for more cupping cycles in order to allow your blood and interstitial fluids to drain from its source.
Wet cupping draws stagnant fluids to the surface, stimulating white blood cells and initiating your body’s natural healing mechanisms. Furthermore, this practice removes heat and toxins, helping reduce inflammation in muscles, joints and back while relieving pain relief. Finally, this practice enhances overall quality of life and fosters feelings of wellbeing.
Recent controlled quasi-experimental clinical research indicates that cupping therapy can significantly enhance health-related quality of life (HRQOL) across various physical domains, including neck pain. The trial involved 629 patients referred from various specialty clinics at KAUH to the Yousef Abdul-Latif Jameel Cupping Clinic at Yousef Abdul-Latif Jameel Cupping Clinic; each subject completed pre and post tests one month post treatment with cupping treatments.
Cupping is an ancient medical technique widely utilized today in treating numerous health conditions, as an alternative therapy. It has proven safe for most individuals, and has proven helpful for chronic neck and back pain relief as well as faster recovery from workouts or injuries. Cupping therapy has even become popular with athletes seeking faster recoveries from workouts or injuries.
Hot Cupping
Wet cupping (also referred to in Arabic as Hijama) is an age-old practice used to create a vacuum inside cups made of glass, bamboo or ceramic and place them directly onto your skin. Practitioners can create this vacuum using heat from fire or special tools which pressurize air by pumping or twisting in order to draw blood toward treatment areas and promote healing.
A cupping therapist fills a cup with flammable substances like alcohol or herbs and briefly sets it on fire before placing it upside-down onto an area of your body where it will cool and create suction, lifting up skin cells while opening blood vessels to expand. Cupping treatments typically last three minutes on average. Modern methods use pumps instead of fire.
Wet cupping involves lightly piercing the skin with a plum blossom needle or triangular-tipped needle and drawing out small amounts of blood into a cup. This method reportedly helps flush toxins out of the body while improving results of cupping therapy.
Once a session of either type of cupping has concluded, you may feel slightly sore, but Shestopal claims this to be an appropriate soreness that will fade as muscles heal. Red or purple circular marks may remain where cups were placed – these should fade as blood circulates back through these areas affected.
Cold Cupping
Traditional East Asian medicine practitioners usually perform this form of cupping. A practitioner heats their cups by burning an alcohol-soaked cotton ball inside, creating oxygen, which causes skin to rise up, creating suction force that allows toxins to be released through blood collected in their cups.
Once placed on an affected area of the body, cups are left there for 10 or so minutes before being moved around or left stationary and applied selectively – this technique is known as sliding cupping.
Wet cupping is a form of Traditional Chinese and Middle-Eastern medicine used to remove heat, blood and toxins, treat inflammation and pathology as well as increase circulation to boost detoxification processes.
Dry cupping and wet cupping both leave visible marks that resemble bruises, yet do not hurt. “Marks may range in color from dark purple to light pink or you might not have any at all,” according to Auth. These marks should last only several hours or be gone within an hour after treatment, showing your session was effective and signalling to others that cupping was done successfully. However, blood thinner users should avoid cupping as it can take longer for cuts to heal after taking blood thinners.