Cupping therapy is one of the oldest and most effective method of releasing the toxins from body tissue and organs. It is also known as vacuum cupping, hijama cupping, horn treatment, oxidant releasing therapy, etc.
It is a practice in which the therapist puts special cups on the skin to create suction. This causes the tissue beneath the cup to be drawn up and swell causing increase in blood flow to affected area.
Enhanced blood flow under the cups draws impurities and toxins away from the nearby tissues and organs towards the surface for elimination. Cupping is one of the oldest known treatment for multiple illness.
Throughout history, cupping techniques and styles have often resembled the geographic locations they were practiced in, as well as utilizing a region’s local materials: animal horns, bamboo, ceramic, glass, metal, and plastic have all been used in this practice found in Ancient Egyptian, Chinese, Greek, Korean, Tibetan, and Latin American cultures, all of which have served the purpose of supporting the body’s ability to heal itself.
In North Africa, cupping therapy was first documented on Eber’s papyrus (1550 BCE), where a cup is the Egyptian glyph to reference a physician. In Asia, during the Jin dynasty, Ge Hong (281-341 CE) mentions the use of animal horns as a means of draining fluids from the body.
Also it has been popular in Greek bronze era where they used the bronze cups. In Arabic and Islamic countries, cups (hijama) are recommended in the Al Qanun Fi’l-Tibb, Canon of Medicine (1025CE), to treat menstrual conditions. Prophet Muhammed Shallallahu 'Alaihi Wa Sallam is reported to have been a user and also advocated about it.
According to historical literature, the principle of indication for cupping is to eliminate residues or divert blood from one part to another. In Chinese medicine, cupping and other similar therapies follow the Daoist model of holism.
Holism is the philosophy that systems and their properties must be viewed together, not just as a collection of parts. Daoists contended that no single being or human could exist unless they are seen in relation to nature, as an extension of the universe and as such are impacted by natural phenomenon, such as the seasons and climate, as well as by internal states, such as emotional stress.
Disease, according to this concept, is the result of climate, emotions, and/or trauma that create imbalance in the body. Modern Cupping as western based cupping uses the plastic, silicon or glass cups with a vacuum seal to influence the myofascial tissue physiology.
