One of the services offered at Valley Ranch Acupuncture is an ancient Chinese practice called “cupping”. Being someone slightly north of anxious and to be honest, having very little pain tolerance, I never would have tried cupping if I researched it before the first time I tried cupping. Seriously, don’t google cupping, don’t wikipedia cupping, just consider trying it if you have ever wanted / needed a deep tissue massage. I’ve had those types of massages before. They hurt like a mo-fo and my back is sore for days. Don’t get me wrong, massages are fantastic but when my back is really sore, I have a cupping session.
Basically, a dozen or so small cups are applied to your back, suctioning the skin and superficial muscle layers as they are drawn into and held in the cup. In some cases, the cup may be moved while the suction of skin is active, causing a regional pulling of the skin and muscle. Trust me, it doesn’t hurt and like I said, I don’t have much of a threshold for pain. Not to get too graphic, but cupping sort of feels like a hickey . . . . . . and like those junior high ‘love bites’ cupping leaves marks unfortunately. They fade away within a few days but immediately after cupping, yeah your back looks like you had a hot ‘n heavy make out session with an octopus.