Cupping therapy has been part of medical practice in both Eastern and Western culture. One aspect of the Chinese medicine use of cupping is that it draws bad stuff out from deeper layers to the surface. The bad stuff could be external pathogenic factors that are associated with colds and flus. In Russia they cup chemotherapy patients to draw out ‘toxins’. And poor blood circulation in muscles is thought of as a thing that cups can draw out. Stick with me here, this isn’t how I think it really works. Cupping is like a massage that draws the tissue out to lengthen it instead of pushing on it. And when it draws a small amount of blood from the vessels into the surrounding tissues – leaving the characteristic dark circles – the body responds by trying to heal what it recognises as a new injury.
