How Cupping Can Help with the Common Cold

‍What is Cupping Therapy?

Cupping is a form of alternative medicine that dates back to ancient Chinese, Egyptian and Middle Eastern cultures. One of the earliest known dates in which the practice was used is 1500 B.C. in ancient Egypt. The reason the practice is called “cupping” is because cups are used on the patient’s body. Cups can be made of glass, silicone, bamboo or earthenware. The cups can either be dry or wet during a therapy session. During either type of cupping, the therapist places substances like herbs, alcohol or paper in a cup and sets it on fire. After the fire is extinguished, the cup is placed upside down on your bare skin.

How does Cupping Work?

The cooling air inside the cups creates a vacuum, which makes your skin rise and grow red as the blood vessels expand. Frequently, a different, modern version of the procedure is used and involves a rubber pump instead of fire for the creation of the vacuum. With wet cupping, there is a suction created when the therapist leaves a cup on your skin for three minutes. Afterward, tiny dots are cut into the skin. This is believed to eliminate harmful toxins from the body.

How can Cupping Help with a Common Cold?

One of the purposes of cupping is to relieve the symptoms of the common cold. It is used to alleviate a cough, wheezing, phlegm buildup in the lungs and asthma symptoms, all of which may be present during a bout with a cold. When phlegm buildup is reduced and coughing is eased, it helps the individual to be better able to breathe, relieving one of the chief symptoms of the common cold.

In addition to helping with cold symptoms, cupping is helpful with a variety of other ailments as well. These include high blood pressure, migraines, anxiety and depression, varicose veins, arthritis, fibromyalgia, anemia, hemophilia, acne and eczema.

If you want to obtain cupping therapy to treat colds or for any other reason, it’s important to first speak with a doctor. You should also talk with an experienced cupping therapist to ensure that you know everything there is to know about the therapy.

At Complete Wellness NYC, we offer cupping therapy for a number of illnesses and conditions. If you would like to know more about this type of therapy and how it can help you, please call us at (212) 737-9000. We’ll be glad to answer any of your questions!