Cupping therapy for eczema

I have a couple of subscribers to my regular eczema newsletter who write to me about cupping therapy. They have been advised by their Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) practitioners to try cupping therapy for eczema as part of their holistic treatment. While it’s too soon to report whether therapy has helped them, I proceeded to find out more about this largely unknown (at least to most of us) form of treatment.

Cupping therapy is an ancient form of Chinese healing, just like acupuncture. It is the art of using plastic or glass cups with suction balls on the end placed against the skin to create a vacuum. The vacuum causes local congestion, sucks your skin and opens the meridians of your body. According to TCM, the meridians are the channels through which energy enters and flows. Diseases and illnesses happen when the channels of the meridians are blocked. Opening the channels can help speed recovery and achieve healing.

Cupping therapy apparently has many benefits for the skin. Activates skin tissues and causes them to release toxins. This detoxification therapy can also improve the condition of varicose veins, as it eliminates the cases of blood clotting in the arteries, capillaries and veins. Most importantly, cupping therapy is believed to stimulate the lymphatic system, the same system that produces antibodies to help fight disease.

With that being said, cupping therapy proves to be another alternative method of treating eczema, as well as other skin problems like boils. Much of this is due to the therapy’s ability to clear the skin of pathogens, the same ones that trigger an eczema flare-up. Cupping therapy also improves blood circulation and enhances its purification. Since some theories say that certain types of eczema are caused by circulatory problems, cupping therapy may be the answer to curing eczema.

During the therapy process, plastic or glass cups are placed at certain points on your body. The points for eczema are located specifically near the belly button, just below the kneecap, at the top tip of the spinal cord, and just above the ankle. When the plastic or glass cups used in therapy are applied to these areas, you will feel calm and relaxed. In fact, this is what you would expect to experience from cupping therapy. You may fall asleep during the session and wake up feeling more refreshed and energized.

Cupping therapy, as an alternative treatment for eczema, is definitely worth a try; as there is no conventional medicine cure for eczema. In fact, what doctors can do for you right now are different ways to minimize the discomfort that your eczema condition brings. Other than that, there are no guarantees that a full cure will occur. You will find that you get eczema breakouts over and over again. So it would seem that combining the good effects of alternative remedies with modern science may be the best route to take if you want to be cured of eczema.