Does Cupping Help with Scar Tissue?

Cupping therapy as a Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) has been practiced for thousands of years. Celebrities like Jennifer Aniston, professional and Olympic-level athletes, and Instagram influencers are all in on the trendiest treatment for scar tissue and skin rejuvenation. Images of cupping marks can be found online on the backs, necks, and shoulders of many. Although admittedly they look scary, they come with some real good health benefits. 

Contemporary cupping techniques are built from ancient Chinese medicine. The silicone cupping sets we see on the market today are manufactured from silicone or plastic. Applied to the skin, the cup creates a vacuum-esque seal. Unlike a massage pushes tissue downwards, cupping therapy suctions tissue upwards. When the suction happens, it does three primary things – circulates blood, helps to clear pathways used for detoxification in the lymphatic system, and breaks up adhesions. If people apply the cups properly, the suction can affect tissue up to 4 inches deep. This includes blood vessels, muscles, fascia, and scar tissue. Cupping works, to some degree, similar to myofascial decompression. 

Chinese cupping therapy is used in athletic training, physical therapy, and massage therapy to decompress adhesions and scar tissue, ease muscle spasms, decrease trigger point pain, and decrease inflammation following trauma. Additionally, the effects are also cumulative. Things like endurance, circulation, and the ability to recover from workouts are all enhanced. Now, as it applies to scar tissue, cupping in most cases will work to break it up and promote healing. Athletes and non-athletes have used it for this purpose. Studies have shown cupping therapy to work wonders on muscular scaring and dermis scaring. As it relates to internal scarring, studies are unclear. However, this is not to say cupping isn’t effective but rather, we are unsure about whether the benefits are consistent across enough patients who’ve used it for this purpose. 

Cupping can bring numerous benefits. Cupping reduces cellulite, in addition to possibly being a treatment option for calming the nervous system, mental health conditions such as anxiety and depression, headaches and migraines, respiratory conditions such as asthma and bronchitis, and various pain-related issues such as sciatica, rotator cuff injuries, and plantar fasciitis.

In short, whether you have intense scar tissue and/or identify with some of the other conditions mentioned, cupping is a safe, natural, and enjoyable treatment. On its own, it works absolutely amazingly for some patients. For others, they combine it with acupuncture and similar therapies to achieve what they hope for. As it relates to treating scar tissue, this is absolutely a treatment we can recommend. 

If you are interested in doing fire cupping near you, please find a reliable practitioner. If you are interested in doing cupping at home or suction cups massage yourself instead of going to a professional’s office, Lierre.ca provides a wide range of cupping sets made from different materials. They’re inexpensive, efficient, and with the right technique, provide the same benefits and results as you would have going to a professional. Please feel encouraged to browse Lierre.ca today for cupping therapy and treatments relating to scar tissue.