What is Cupping and How Can it Help Me? 

Cupping has been used in many healing traditions across the world, and by families over many generations. What was once a bamboo cup is now plastic, glass but can still be bamboo. Gwenyth Paltrow made a splash by showing off her cup marks at an event years ago. Do you remember that?

Cupping can be used for general muscle tension and to relax, but that isn't all it can do. Cupping, done correctly, can help chronic pain and dramatically reduce the number of treatments needed to be pain free.

What Is Cupping?

Cups are placed on the area of pain or tension. The air in the cup is then removed either with a flame or suction. If a flame is used, it's then placed on the targeted body area. If a vacuum pump is used, it's place on the body and then the suction pump is used to remove the air and create a vacuum.

What happens next? The toxins and cellular waste trapped in the muscle tissue is brought to the surface of the skin, where the body can more easily remove it from the body. When there is tension, pain or trauma, it is difficult to promote healing as the cellular waste products can't exit the affected area. With cupping, that cellular waste is not only removed from the area, but new blood flow is brought to the area to assist healing.

The end result? If there is blockage and cellular waste, there is a coloring of the skin. If there is no tension, there will be no discoloration. The more tension and cellular waste, the more color is seen. Sometimes, cupping marks are dark purple. I'm always glad when this happens, as I know my patient will be feeling better soon!

Sometimes you have to see it for yourself. You can move a cup (when olive oil is put on the skin first) from one side of the spine to the other. On one side, there is hard suction, and when moved to the other side, there is almost no suction. There is no tension on the side with no suction. If two cups are left on each side for 10 min, you would see a coloring from light red to dark purple color form on the side with tension and no coloration on the other side.

How Can it Help Me?

Cupping can help speed your recovery from an acute or chronic condition resistant to other treatment modalities. What may take 5+ treatments to heal can be done in 1-2. This is the case with jaw pain, migraines, neck pain, back pain, hip pain and many other areas of pain and dis-ease.

If you can handle a little color, you can experience freedom from pain. How does that sound? If you'd like to add cupping to your healing regimen, give me a call; I'd be happy to help.

Yours in Health,

Kara

Kara Sorensen, MS, LAc
Acupuncture by Kara
15066 Los Gatos-Almaden Rd
Suite 200
Los Gatos, CA
e: kara(at)karasorensen.com
p: 408.805.5272 (KARA)
p: 800.514.1406

Acupuncture Helps Neck Pain of a Computer User

Here's a testimonial a recent patient wrote about her experience with Acupuncture and how it dramatically helped her recovery from pain. Surgery was mentioned and she called me right away to see what I could do to help her. I'm REALLY glad she came in for treatment:

'I am an IT professional and that means that I am at a computer at least 8 hours a day at work and at home another couple of hours. Ironically my previous employer (a health care company) did not provide proper ergonomic support.  

This past summer after working on a home improvement project with a friend - I was in a lot of pain in my neck and shoulder area.  I tried chiropractic and deep tissue massage and had some improvement in managing my pain.

However, by August - I was in so much pain that I went to urgent care and was prescribed pain medication and muscle relaxers. In October my doctor sent me to get x-rays, sent me to physical therapy and continued the pain meds and muscle relaxants.

In November, my doctor told me that there was some thinning in my spine and if I didn't receive some benefit from the physical therapy - she would send me to get an MRI and possibly surgery!

The mention of surgery freaked me out!  I sought help from Kara.

With just one treatment, I could feel my tight muscles unravel. It's as if my muscles were a tight ball of yarn and someone gently let the yarn roll away.

I've only had three treatments but I have had signifcant relief with acupuncture treatments with Kara.  Years ago I went to an acupuncturist in Walnut Creek - I had very little response with that practitioner.  The short time I've been working with Kara makes me wonder - what took me so long to seek help from Kara?

I would recommend Kara to anyone needing pain management or relief from other physical stresses.'

Vivien Neves
San Francisco, CA

If you're in pain, consider Acupuncture as an option for your pain relief. If you live near Los Gatos, CA, I would be happy to help you. If you need a referral in your area, check out the referral list for Acupuncturists here. Either way, don't just live with the pain, find relief!

Yours in Health,

Kara Sorensen, MS, LAc

Acupuncture by Kara &
The Food Craving Solution

15066 Los Gatos-Almaden Rd
Suite 200
Los Gatos, CA

e: kara(at)karasorensen.com
p: 408.805.5272 (KARA)
p: 800.514.1406

Patient Testimonial: Relief from Neck Pain with Acupuncture

This patient was first treated for neck pain with great success, and then continued her treatment for other health issues like allergies, food cravings and hormonal balance issues. I'm grateful for her testimonial and here it is:

'I first went to Kara Sorensen for acupuncture, but she also prescribed Chinese herbs, provided supplements, and helped with my food cravings/allergies. After one brief acupuncture treatment for neck pain that had been going on for a number of weeks, I was pain-free and have been ever since.

Kara is warm and genuine, knowledgeable, and professional. She goes out of her way to help her patients, is happy to answer questions and provide assistance between appointments, and has continued to help me even after my acupuncture treatments ended. The treatment rooms are comfortable and private, and they patiently and successfully helped with my insurance issues. I can't say enough good things about them. Kara helped me physically and emotionally through a painful period--I was lucky to have found her.'

Michele
San Francisco, CA

If you're struggling with neck pain or other health issues, and you're looking for natural solutions, please contact me. If you're not in the San Francisco Bay Area, I'm happy to refer you to someone near you.

Yours in Health,

Kara Sorensen, MS, LAc
Acupuncture by Kara
5 Bon Air Road, Suite 109
Larkspur, CA
415.819.8172

800.514.1406

I'm a Licensed Acupuncturist in the state of California with a BS in Dietetics an MS in Nutrition Science and an MS in Traditional Chinese Medicine.