With the dropping temperatures, we’ve found that cupping to be especially beneficial, helping us feel healthier, warmer, and ready to face the frigid weather. While it might not be intuitive, cupping massage can physically help you with a few unpleasant aspects of the colder weather.
When our bodies feel cold, blood rushes to the core of the body to protect the organs. You’ve probably already noticed that when you’re outside in the winter, your skin will grow paler; when you warm up, your hands and feet may momentarily grow redder. What you’re seeing is blood, which is what keeps your body at a regular temperature! The ability to stimulate local blood flow can then help you warm up, and help you alleviate muscular tensions and pains that can become more severe as the temperature drops.
While it’s possible to use plastic cups for a massage, silicone cups tend to be more practical, since their flexible edges can hug the contours of the body more closely. They can be purchased as a part of a set, or individually; our 50 mm clear silicone cup is generally used for the thighs, while the 30mm silicone cup is more commonly used for the arms and wrists. Individuals with very small wrists may prefer facial cups for this purpose. For a full body cupping massage, consider buying our silicone cupping set.
Coming in from the cold
Because cupping stimulate circulation, it can help you warm up faster! It’s one of the lesser known, practical application of cupping. It’s particularly useful for warming up your extremities, as they tend not to preserve enough blood flow when your body gets colder.
We recommend a gentle lotion for this particular use. Since winter months are so dry, they tend to make skin brittle and prone to cracking, and a deeply hydrating lotion can help your skin feel smoother. Bon Vital’s Therapeutic Touch lotion is particularly good for this purpose.
After a work out
By increasing blood flow to specific areas in your body, cupping boosts muscular regeneration. If you suspect you’ve worked out your shoulders a bit too hard, for example, you can massage this area with cups shortly after your work out to help stimulate more blood flow to the area. A cupping treatment on the same day – preferably within half an hour to two hours – will have a preventative effect, relieving muscular stiffness and tensions before they happen.
If you find yourself walking home in the cold from the gym, the temperature can actually make your body feel stiffer in the hours and days to follow: the blood rushes away from the extremities to the core of
the body, and therefore areas such as the thighs – that may need blood to regenerate tissues after a heavy work out – can then become more painful than they otherwise would during the summer months, and take longer to recover.
For this particular use, we suggest pairing cups with a therapeutic balm, gel or oil that’s targeted for pain relief. Our Muscle Therapy gel, for example, makes a great choice.
After a long day at the office
Athletes aren’t the only people who can benefit from cupping: if you have to sit down for long hours at your work, it’s not unusual to experience uncomfortable, sometimes painful muscular tensions in your shoulders and lower back. Stimulating blood flow to the areas works in much the same way as it would for muscular pains due to exercise.
Another unpleasant side-effect of working long hours is, of course, increased stress levels. A cupping massage can be particularly useful, then, because by relieving physical tension, it can alleviate mental stress, and help you unplug from your work.
A relaxing balm or gel can be particularly soothing, and an analgesic product can also help relieve tensions and pains. Our Relaxation and Release gel is particularly good for stress, and our Thermal Balm creates a soothing sensation of coolness.
Reference Link about Cupping product or therapy:
Cupping articles: https://lierre.ca/blog/category/cupping/
Massage Oils, Gels, Creams and Lotions
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