How many times can cupping be performed in a month?

Traditional Chinese medicine has existed in our country for thousands of years. Whether it is drug treatment or physical therapy, the effect is very ideal. Take cupping for example, it can not only regulate acupoints, but also help people relieve physical fatigue and drive away diseases. However, cupping also requires some skills, and it is easy to cause harm if you cup it randomly. So, how many times can cupping be performed in a month?

While cupping can remove cold and dampness, it will also cause some loss of vital energy, so cupping should not be done too frequently. It should be done once a week or later after the marks left by the cupping disappear. Frequent cupping will lead to weak Qi and blood, and insufficient positive energy.

Common tools

There are many types of jars commonly used at present, including bamboo jars, glass jars, vacuum jars, etc.

1. Bamboo jar

(1) Materials and production: The bamboo pot is made of solid and intact bamboo with a diameter of 3 to 5 cm, which is made into a bamboo tube 6 to 8 cm or 8 to 10 cm long. A node is left at one end as the bottom and the other end as the pot mouth. The green skin and inner membrane are scraped off with a knife to make a cylinder shaped like a waist drum. The pot mouth is polished with sandpaper to make it smooth and flat.

(2) Advantages: Easy to obtain materials, simple to make, light and durable, easy to carry, economical and not easy to break; bamboo cups have strong adsorption capacity and can be used not only on muscular areas such as shoulders and back, but also on thin-skinned and less-fleshed areas such as wrists, ankles, insteps, backs of hands, shoulders and necks. Compared with small-caliber glass cups, bamboo cups have obvious advantages in adsorption capacity; in addition, bamboo cupping therapy can be used by placing the cup in boiling medicinal liquid and then decocting it and then sucking it onto acupoints or body surface, which can improve local blood circulation through negative pressure and play a local fumigation role with the help of the penetration of the medicinal liquid, thus forming a dual effect and enhancing the therapeutic effect.

(3) Disadvantages: It is easy to crack and leak; it is also opaque, making it difficult to observe the skin reaction inside the cup, so it is not suitable for bloodletting and cupping.

2. Glass jars

(1) Materials and Production Glass jars are made of heat-resistant glass, shaped like a ball, with an open bottom, a small mouth and a big belly. They are divided into different models according to the diameter of the jar mouth and the size of the cavity.

(2) Advantages: The cup mouth is smooth and transparent, which makes it easy to observe the degree of skin congestion and blood stasis at the cupping site, thereby understanding the retention time of the cup. It is currently the most widely used cupping device in clinical practice, and is particularly suitable for moving cupping, flash cupping, pricking cupping and retained needle cupping.

(3) Disadvantages: Fast heat conduction, easy to burn, and easy to break.

3. Vacuum tank

(1) Materials and production: The vacuum tank is made of plexiglass or transparent engineering resin material, and uses a piston on the top of the tank to control the exhaust of air.

The mechanical vacuum principle is used to form negative pressure inside the tank, so that the tank is adsorbed to the selected position.

(2) Advantages: The vacuum cup does not require fire or electricity, eliminates safety hazards and will not burn the skin; it is easy to operate and can be widely used for personal and family self-health care. It is currently the most popular new type of cupping device.

(3) Disadvantage: It does not have the warm stimulation effect of cupping.