Lymph Drainage with a Vacuum Therapy Machine

Cupping Therapy Question and Answer 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

Is it permissible to use the pumping mode with light suction on face rhythm 2 in the auxiliary area to release nodes, then divert lymph fluid to clavicula area? Clearing termini area first, then draining from the arm to termini to relieve edema. I have a background in manual lymph drainage, just not sure about using MC 600 in this application.

Answer

I am glad to hear that you have a background in lymphatic studies. Our MediCupping online course outlines the drainage pathways as clearly as possible, and you should have received the online course if you purchased your machine through us. We stress on in our online courses that vacuum drainage is different from MLD, because we do not push the fluids, we pull on them. We still clear proximal before distal, but MLD movement patterns that go up the neck will actually drain fluid up, instead of facilitating drainage down to the terminus and axillary nodes. Clear the terminus first, then clear above and move down the neck with the pumping movements.

Your foundation of MLD training is incredibly useful, and if you have any trouble translating to the drainage movements used with the vacuum after reviewing the online course, please consider coming to one of our in-person workshops and we’ll make sure to work on that with you. Many who have studied MLD before have a bit of difficulty with the new info, and when it finally makes sense that we are using a vacuum everything becomes clear.

Anita Shannon
Director of ACE

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About the Author

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.