Self-Cupping at Home | MassageCupping.com

The Safety of Performing Cupping Therapy at Home

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

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

I have a question concerning a patient who wants to perform cupping at home and has purchased a cupping set. She is a (B)mastectomy patient with some lymph involvement. I know to not cup directly over lymph nodes. However, I am not sure about guidelines for self cupping given her surgeries, possible lymph problems. She is aware of when she is getting too much soft tissue work as she will even ask to change areas if not noted by the treating therapist. She also understands how to self-manage a little bit of increased swelling. I know you teach a full course on this and this may be a hard question to answer. Should she just not be doing cupping therapy at home?

Answer

I think they are correct in suggesting she does NOT do self-care. Without education and proper understanding of cups with such a delicate situation, it is far easier to cause harm than do good.

I think that the patient should refrain from home-care with the cups. There are many variable factors with her condition, and it’s quite possible that she could do more harm than good. If you, as a practitioner, feel that you could show her some safe and minimal work she could do at home, that is one thing that you could consider. However, if you feel that you should know more about cupping therapy before you can show it to others, then I would advise her that she is taking a risk with self-treatment.

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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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