Post Punk Kitchen Forum

Does anyone have experience with cupping? Getting it done not doing it.

I just recently just started having done it for a large scar I have on the inside of my forearm. After two sessions I haven't seen much change. But this last session was intense. I can see all of the blood and tissue debris that came to the surface. And the scar is now a deep purple red color. I'm really hoping this helps the scar to heal better. Right now it is tight and raised.

The clear ones at the bottom are what my therapist used on me.
http://cuppingtherapy.org/pages/equipment.html#clear

I have sought treatment for scars in the past, and no one has ever recommended cupping. A quick look on the internet uncovered this: http://www.skepdic.com/cupping.html

Seems to me that it's the equivalent of getting a bunch of hickeys, and while likely not dangerous, quite possibly an inefficient use of money.

I probably should have been clearer. It's not that type of cupping. There is no heat involved and they aren't glass cups that leave marks like that. What she is using on me are smaller silicone cups that basically just bring blood to the surface of the area. She didn't put them in one place and leave them on. She moved them around and massaged the area with them.

Also, I'm not paying for it. So that's really why I am trying it in hopes that it helps. I have no real expectations.

My OT suggested I use something called Rejuveness, but it is pricey for a tiny little bottle. Figured I would go the route that cost me the least amount of money first.
http://www.rejuveness.com/

I see. For what it's worth, I had quite good results with just smearing vitamin e oil all over my scars for several months. They're still visible, but they are WAY better than they were. Good luck!

Did you buy capsules and break them open? I was trying to find vitamin e in WF and didnt have any luck. I was gonna look online for some but didnt get around to it yet.

I have no experience with cupping, but I do with scars. From my experience, it's the massage part that does the most help for scars. I have a very large surgical scar and parts of it are nearly invisble thanks to meticulious massage with coconut oil and Vitamin E oil.

She used coconut oil to do it! So that is good news. This scar is annoying me. It runs from my hand/wrist to the middle of my forearm and it ruined my tattoo.

Thanks for the advice!

Yes, I just used a safety pin to poke a hole in vitamin e capsules and then squished the oil on the scars. Later, I did find a bottle of the oil alone, which was nice too - be sure to ask at your health food store or market, because I think it's pretty common!

I also vote for vitamin e and massage! I have two scars on the tops of my wrists from surgery. I couldn't find vegan (gelatin free) vit e capsules so I ended up buying a bottle of vitamin e oil at whole foods (derma e brand). For the first scar I was really good about rubbing for 15 min 3x/day per doctor's orders and I broke down the scar tissue really well and also got rid of a lot of the visual aspects of the scar. For the surgery on the second wrist, I was much more lackadaisical so it's more prevalent. Oh, and make sure to put sunscreen on it if you go out in the sun!

I kind of thought this thread was going to be about something dirty (not sure what), but it's cool to know there might be something to help my scars (the oils, I'm too skeptical about cupping at this point).

Cross friction massage is used to help align scar tissue, and any regular massage will increase circulation and nutrition to the area, which as you've noted, is a good thing. I'm not sure about the evidence behind vitamin E oil, but I have clients
who swear by it. It's good for your skin, so it can't hurt!

I get cupped almost weekly after my acupuncture exams and really enjoy it. I have no experience with scars, but I have lots of muscle knots and tension in my body and the suction from the cups really-really helps to release my muscle tension. I have also been getting it on my frozen shoulders and I think it really helps with all the stagnation since my mobility is impaired.

xo
kittee

I found some vitamin e oil at WF today. I got someone to help me, it was no where near where I would have thought it should be. So I'll start using that in addition to the cupping massage and hopefully this scar will get better.

Kittee, the woman doing my cupping does acupuncture and Chinese medicine too. She just started to get into the cupping. I wonder if she is going to start the traditional type too. Do you get the kind with the heat? Frozen shoulder sounds painful! Glad it's helping you!

ive also had cupping done in conjunction with acupuncture to relieve tension in my back and neck muscles.

i absolutely loved it. i cant comment on whether or not it would help a scar but i also had the kind done where they move it around and massage. hurts like hell but i feel so good after.

if massage is good for healing a scar then i would think cupping would be too and i would think all that increased blood flow to the area would help?

I don't know of any cupping that involves heat? I get fire cups, which are glass cups. The suction is created by a flame which is blown out immediately, so there is no heat. I also get a kind of cupping where the suction is created manually with a hand pump--these are good for bony areas like my shoulder. My favorite is moving cups, the cups are placed on top of my back which has been oiled, and then moved around in a massage. Ah, sooooo good.

xo
kittee

this is the kind i get. holy tension reliever i love it!

We did a bit of cupping in massage school, basically with hot teacups. I had never heard of it being used for scars, but that doesn't mean it can't be; just that we didn't cover that. The way I learned it, you're supposed to use the cups to bring the "debris" to the surface (so it's visible, like you're seeing) and then massage it out, so it dissipates from the area where it's collected and gets excreted properly. (But I'm not exactly sure the precise biology of how that works, so someone else can feel free to be like "nope, totally doesn't work that way, here's the science to back that up"!)

I'm interested to hear more about it being used for scars. Like I said, I haven't heard of that before, but that doesn't mean it isn't a thing!

I keep seeing the thread title and always have to check what this is about because I forgot. "Cupping" - haha! sounds like something else completely in my head.