Can I use cupping when my period comes?

Many people want to try cupping when their shoulders or backs become sore due to cold. Cupping has many benefits to the human body. It creates negative pressure inside the cup by exhausting air, thereby allowing the cup to absorb the cold air out of the body. It can improve local blood circulation, speed up the circulation of qi and blood, and has the effects of reducing swelling and relieving pain, dispelling cold and dampness. Many people, especially women, prefer cupping. So, can women use cupping when they have their period?

1. Can cupping be performed during menstruation?

During menstruation, the body is in a poor condition and the pelvis is congested, which can cause discomfort such as low back pain, lower abdominal pain, fatigue, etc. Therefore, acupuncture and cupping are prohibited during menstruation, as it can easily lead to excessive menstrual flow, prolonged menstruation, and menstrual disorders. In addition, the blood coagulation function is more disordered during menstruation, and cupping may cause local bleeding. Furthermore, cupping may cause hypotensive syncope or even shock in women during menstruation.

2. Can cupping be performed before and after menstruation?

It is okay to cupping before the menstrual period. Cupping can provide benign stimulation to the body's meridians, thereby unblocking qi and blood, causing blood vessels to dilate, and removing cold from the body, but it has no effect on the onset of menstruation. It is best to wait three days after the menstrual period is over before doing it, and always pay attention to keeping warm and taking good care of yourself.

3. The principle of cupping

1. Mechanical stimulation

Cupping therapy creates negative pressure inside the cup by exhausting air, allowing the edge of the cup to adhere tightly to the skin surface, pulling on the nerves, muscles, blood vessels and subcutaneous glands, which can cause a series of neuroendocrine reactions, regulate vasodilation and contraction function and vascular permeability, thereby improving local blood circulation.

2. Negative pressure effect

The negative pressure of cupping causes local congestion and blood stasis quickly. The release of hemoglobin from red blood cells can bidirectionally regulate the functions of tissues and organs through the nervous system, while promoting the phagocytosis of white blood cells, increasing the skin's sensitivity and tolerance to external changes, and thus enhancing the body's immunity. Secondly, the strong suction of negative pressure can fully open the sweat pores, stimulate and strengthen the functions of sweat glands and sebaceous glands, and cause aging cells on the surface of the skin to fall off, thereby accelerating the excretion of toxins and waste in the body.

3. Warming effect

During cupping, the local warming effect not only dilates blood vessels and increases blood flow, but also enhances the permeability of blood vessel walls and the phagocytic ability of cells; the changes in vascular tension and mucosal permeability at the cupping site accelerate lymphatic circulation and enhance phagocytosis, thus forming a good environment for infectious lesions to resist biological causes.

4. Who is not suitable for cupping?

Women during menstruation, pregnant women, people with thin muscles, children under 6 years old, people over 70 years old, mental patients, patients with edema and bleeding tendency.