We live in a world where more is better, and as such, there is certainly no shortage of options for treating muscle pain at home. The sheer number of balls, wands, machines, and various other contraptions all promise to deliver happier muscles if used with regularity. But which tool do you purchase? And are there tools that work better for some muscles than others? What about chronic pain vs acute pain?
Let’s get rid of the noise and make this simple — I suspect you could use a little bit of that in this amorphous world of self care we know is a priority, but barely have time to commit to.
Practitioners of Traditional Chinese Medicine developed cupping and guasha 1000s of years ago and have included their use in the foundational training of TCM practitioners to this day because of their incredible efficacy in treating pain. Though practitioners are trained to use glass cups which suction using a temperature differential created by placing a heat source within the interior of the globe prior to application, there are plenty
of other at – home options now available.
The two specific at – home tools I use in my home on a regular basis are these: a large stone guasha tool (which I store in my shower and use while my muscles are receiving the moist heat of the water stream) and a set of silicon cups. These two tools work to cover nearly all of the soft tissue pain in our family as well as the muscular aches that come along with living an active lifestyle. Everyone in the house can use them regardless of their age, they’re easy to use, and incredibly efficient at getting the work done.
What tool is appropriate for which applications? I’ll make this as simple as possible. If you have an acute injury (I consider this an injury that is between 2 – 5 days old) a silicone cup is the only tool to grab. Tissues heal with blood flow. It’s the blood that brings nutrients to the area for tissue repair, and though the initial inflammation response is helpful in preventing further injury to the area, blood that is stuck in the tissues is not helping with tissue repair. Placing a cup over the site of injury and leaving it in that singular location without moving it for a period of 2 or 3 minutes, what we call this static cupping in TCM, is the single best way to aid the body with repair.
If you have a chronic injury or muscle tension that likes to recur in a particular area, the tissue type will determine your tool. If the tissue is a juicy muscle, select the cup. If the tissue is more tendonous or fascial, select the guasha tool. I find that using the guasha tool to scrape necks, elbows, and IT bands is particularly effective. Conversely, shoulder muscles, hamstrings, and quads tend to do better with cupping that we coin, moving
cupping in Traditional Chinese Medicine. This is where we move the cup in the same direction as the fibers of a given muscle beginning at the portion of the muscle farthest from the heart, and removing suction at the end of the muscle group closest to the heart.
For tension in backs, we cup from the top of the shoulder (trap) all the down along the sides of the spine to the low back, removing the cup only when it’s reached the top of the pelvis.
Of course, there are always exceptions to rules and a practitioner trained in Traditional Chinese Medicine can opine during the course of an acupuncture treatment regarding the best tool for a specific use. But for at – home care, keep two tools handy: the guasha tool and the silicone cups. To determine when to use each tool, first qualify the use for acute or chronic care, and then determine the type of tissue in need of
treatment.