Cupping therapy refers to the treatment method of using fire cups, water cups, or medicinal cups. The most commonly used method in clinical practice is fire cupping, which involves using special glass, ceramic, or bamboo cups to create negative pressure by removing the air inside the cup through heat, causing congestion or blood stasis on the skin or acupoints. It has the effects of warming the meridians, dispersing cold, promoting qi circulation, relieving pain and swelling, and detoxifying.
1. Preparation:
Treatment tray, several fire cups, 95% alcohol cotton balls, a vascular forceps, matches, and petroleum jelly.
2. Procedure:
(1) Expose the area to be cupped (choose a well-developed and flat area of muscle), and thinly apply petroleum jelly.
(2) Use the vascular forceps to hold a 95% alcohol cotton ball and ignite it.
(3) Hold the cup in the left hand with the cup mouth facing downward, and hold the burning alcohol cotton ball with the right hand forceps. Quickly insert it into the cup and immediately remove it, while tapping the cup onto the selected area.
(4) Wait for the skin under the cup to become raised and turn reddish-purple, and leave it in place for 10-15 minutes.
(5) When removing the cup, hold the skin around the cup mouth with the left hand and support the cup with the right hand. Allow air to enter the cup, and the fire cup will fall off.
(6) After cupping, in addition to leaving the cup on, you can also flash the cup after suction, immediately remove it, flash it again, and repeat the process several times. This is called flashing the cup. If the cup is left on after suction, hold the cup body with one hand and gently push it up and down, left and right, slowly and repeatedly. This is called walking the cup and is used for larger areas. If the skin at the affected area is disinfected, tap it with a plum blossom needle or lightly prick it with a triangular needle to cause bleeding before cupping. Leave the cup in place for 10 minutes, then remove the cup, disinfect the skin, and call it bleeding cupping.
3. Nursing:
(1) During cupping, the patient should be in a comfortable position, and the cupping area should be flat and in an area with well-developed muscles. Areas with prominent bones or excessive hair should not be cupped.
(2) Before cupping, carefully check if the cup mouth is smooth and if the cup body has any cracks to avoid damaging the skin or the cup breaking or leaking air during the procedure.
(3) Select a cup size suitable for the area to be cupped. The cupping action should be stable, accurate, and fast. Do not burn the cup mouth with the ignited cotton ball to avoid scalding the skin.
(4) During the cupping period, cover the patient with a blanket to prevent them from getting cold. Observe the degree of skin elevation and changes in skin color under the cup to prevent insufficient suction causing the cup to fall off and affect the efficacy, and avoid large blisters due to prolonged cupping time or excessive suction.
(5) For cases where pus or blood is drawn out, clean the area with sterile cotton balls and cover it with sterile gauze. If a large blister appears, puncture the lower edge of the blister with a sterile needle, drain the fluid, and apply gentian violet. If necessary, cover it with sterile gauze to prevent infection.
(6) Cupping is not suitable for high fever seizures, frenzy, skin allergies, ulcers, edema, large blood vessels, pregnant women's abdominal or lumbar regions.
4. Applications in nursing:
(1) Wind-cold type headache: Cup the temples on both sides.
(2) Deficiency-cold type stomach pain, nausea, vomiting: Cup the Zhongwan acupoint.
(3) Abdominal pain, diarrhea: Cup the Zhongwan, Tianshu, and Qihai acupoints.
(4) Back pain, lumbar strain, contusions caused by wind-cold and dampness: Cup the back.
(5) Wind-cold type cough and asthma: Cup the back shu points.
(6) Early stage of ulcers, snake bites: Cup the affected area.
