Cupping on Clients With Shingles

Cupping Therapy Questions and Answers Blog
If you have questions on Cupping Therapy, our team of industry experts will have your answers.

Cupping Therapy Q&A Series

Intro

Thank you for joining us for another installment of our Cupping Therapy Q&A Series. Here, we feature clinical questions submitted to us by ACE Massage Cupping Therapy practitioners. Our educators offer some brief insight on the topic so that you can expand your working knowledge on this revolutionary bodywork therapy and its benefits.

Question

I have a client that had her first and only shingles break out a few months ago and went through typical treatments until it went away.  My question is, in massage we would stay away from the site when active, and of course I wouldn’t go near the site with cupping either in an active breakout.  However, when the site has cleared up and there is no active shingles, is it okay to go across the area where it was?  It’s been cleared up about a month.

Answer

As our geriatric population swells, shingles is becoming quite commonplace. There is a plethora of information on the internet on shingles and massage, and I hope you have found some great resources.

If the shingles site is no longer active, I would do very minimal work until you can determine how the areas respond. Observe the temperature and texture of the tissue after one pass of suction / release and see if you want to continue.

What Is Postherpetic Neuralgia (PHN)?

Postherpetic neuralgia is a condition of recurring or persistent pain in an area of the body that has undergone an outbreak shingles (the herpes zoster virus).

When the shingles virus damages nerve cells of an infected area, it often causes a painful skin rash that appears as a patch or line of painful blisters on the skin in the shape of a band. The band of blisters follows the distribution of the nerve where the virus was present before it spread to the skin.

Postherpetic neuralgia is a painful condition that often begins after shingles lesions (blisters) begin to crust over and heal, but it may occur when lesions are not produced by the virus.

What Causes Postherpetic Neuralgia?

Postherpetic neuralgia begins when the virus that causes chickenpox affects an individual. After having chickenpox, the virus remains in the body forever. The virus can reactivate, usually decades later, and produce shingles lesions. The reactivation of the virus is thought to be due to stress on the body from either another infection or if the patient’s immune system is compromised (for example, when undergoing treatment for leukemia) that allows the virus to escape the nerve cells.

The nerve fibers damaged from the chickenpox virus are unable to transmit normal sensation messages from the skin to the brain. Instead, the sensation messages become confused and exaggerated, causing chronic, often excruciating, pain that can last months — or even years. However, postherpetic neuralgia does not occur in everyone who suffers from shingles.

What are the Symptoms of Postherpetic Neuralgia?

The signs and symptoms of postherpetic neuralgia are generally limited to the area of your skin where the shingles outbreak first occurred. The most common areas are in a band around the trunk of the body, usually on one side. It may also occur on the face.

The pain associated with postherpetic neuralgia is varied. It can range from discomfort to very severe. The pain is often described as burning, stabbing, or gnawing.

Patients with the condition often can’t bear the slightest touch, and even clothing on the affected skin can be painful. In some cases, the sensation may be in the form of either hypersensitivity or decreased sensation. It is rare, but patients may also experience muscle weakness, tremors, or paralysis if the nerves involved also control muscle movement.

How is Postherpetic Neuralgia Diagnosed?

The diagnosis of the majority of patients with postherpetic neuralgia comes during a follow-up to a recent shingles infection. During an examination of your skin, the doctor may touch it in places to determine the borders of the affected area.

In most cases, no special tests are necessary.

How is Postherpetic Neuralgia Treated?

Treatment for postherpetic neuralgia depends on the type and characteristics of pain experienced by the patient. Generally, there is not a single treatment of postherpetic neuralgia that relieves pain in all people. In many cases, it takes a combination of treatments to reduce the pain, and ensure patient comfort.

Possible pain management options include:

  • Analgesics. Locally applied, a mix of aspirin with an appropriate solvent can help reduce pain.
  • Lidocaine skin patches. A small, bandage-like patch containing the topical, pain-relieving medication lidocaine. Apply the patches, available by prescription, directly to the sensitive skin for temporary relief.
  • Capsaicin skin patch. The application of a high concentration of an extract of chili peppers (capsaicin) available only in a doctor’s office. Trained personnel apply the patch after using a numbing medication on the affected area. The process takes at least two hours, but a single application is effective in decreasing pain for some patients for up to three months.
  • Anticonvulsants. Certain anti-seizure medications can lessen the pain. These medications stabilize abnormal nervous system activity caused by injured nerves.
  • Antidepressants. Certain antidepressants affect key brain chemicals that play a role in both depression and how your body interprets pain. Doctors will prescribe antidepressants for postherpetic neuralgia in smaller doses than for depression alone.
  • Opioid painkillers. Certain prescription-strength medications can help relieve pain, but must be closely managed by a doctor. Opioids can cause nausea and drowsiness as well as become addictive.
  • Steroid injections. A steroid injection into the spine (intrathecal) is helpful in some cases.

Non-drug treatments for postherpetic neuralgia include:

  • Acupuncture. The Chinese art of pricking the skin or tissues with very fine needles.
  • Moxibustion. A form of heat therapy in which dry plant materials called “moxa” are burned on or very near the surface of the skin. The intention is to warm and invigorate the flow of Qi in the body and dispel certain pathogenic influences.
  • Relaxation techniques. These can include breathing exercises, visualization, and distraction.
  • Heat/Cold Therapy. Depending on the patient, hot or cold packs may help reduce pain.
  • Transcutaneous Electrical Nerve Stimulation. The stimulation of peripheral nerve endings by the delivery of electrical energy through the surface of the skin.
  • Spinal cord stimulator. The electrical stimulation of the posterior spinal cord to block nerve impulses.

In some cases, pain treatment for postherpetic neuralgia brings complete relief. However, most sufferers still experience some pain, while some may not obtain any relief. Although some people must live with postherpetic neuralgia for the rest of their lives, the condition often disappears on its own within five years.

What are the Risk Factors for Developing Postherpetic Neuralgia?

If you’ve had shingles, you are at a greater risk of developing postherpetic neuralgia, if:

  • Age. You’re older than 50.
  • Severity. You had a severe rash and severe pain with shingles.
  • Other Illness. You have a chronic disease, such as diabetes.

Is it Possible to Prevent Postherpetic Neuralgia?

Zostavax, the herpes zoster vaccine (shingles vaccine), has been shown to significantly decrease the risk of shingles. The vaccine is approved by the Food and Drug Administration for adults age 50 and older, and is recommended for all adults 60 and older who aren’t allergic to the vaccine and who don’t take immune-suppressing medications.

People age 50 to 59 may want to talk to their doctor about the shingles vaccine, if they are having ongoing pain or skin issues or have a weakened immune system. Vaccination is not a guarantee that shingles will not occur; however, those who get the vaccine usually experience a shorter period of pain.

What Are the Risk Factors for Postherpetic Neuralgia?

Age is a high-risk factor for postherpetic neuralgia. The older a person is when shingles develops, the more likely it is that the individual will develop postherpetic neuralgia. People over 60 years of age have about a 60% chance, while people 70 or older have about a 75% chance, of developing postherpetic neuralgia after getting shingles.

People with a family history of close relatives who developed postherpetic neuralgia are at a higher risk of developing this painful condition.

To submit a question featured on our blog, contact info@massagecupping.com.

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About the Author

Anita J. Shannon
Anita J. Shannon

Educator Info

  • LMBT, CMCE
  • ACE Founder
  • Director of ACE
  • Massage Therapy Hall of Fame Inductee – 2011

Contact

Anita J. Shannon has been a licensed massage therapist and licensed cosmetologist since 1983. She specializes in skin care, body treatments, clinical aromatherapy, and various modalities of massage therapy. She has been a national educator since 1990, appearing at numerous national spa and massage conventions each year. For four years, Anita appeared as a co-host on the television program “Health Options Today” with Dr. Mitchell Ghen.

Anita is the founder and director of Advanced Continuing Education (ACE), an NCBTMB CE provider established in 2001. Anita has presented hundreds of workshops on ACE Massage Cupping and MediCupping therapy throughout the US and internationally since 2002. Anita has been published on the subject of cupping therapy in industry publications such as Massage Today, Massage Magazine, and Les Nouvelles Esthetiques. She has published two educational videos on ACE Massage Cupping bodywork, two on MediCupping therapy and one on TheraCupping home care, and is currently writing a book on VacuTherapies. In 2011, Anita was inducted into the Massage Therapy Hall of Fame.

In 2016, Anita opened ACE Institute Online, an online education portal designed to bring cupping therapy training into the digital age. Since its debut in 2016, ACE Institute Online has introduced the revolutionary techniques found in ACE Massage Cupping and MediCupping to over ten thousand students worldwide.

Anita’s Upcoming Workshops


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