Varying sized cups. Pump & Cup
Cupping
Cupping has been used in Chinese medicine for centuries and is now used widely in western medicine. Traditionally heat is used to create the suction and the cup is left in one area leaving a round bruise on the skin. You may have spotted these bruises on swimmers’ shoulders in the last Olympics and film stars’ neck and shoulders on the red carpet, over the last 10 years.
Myofascial cupping is the method we use and is gradually being adopted by musculoskeletal therapists across the world. David Sheeham 2002 a New Zealand physiotherapist termed this non bruising gliding method of cupping ‘MyoFascial Cupping’. Where traditional cupping is believed to remove adverse stagnant Qi and to encourage smooth flow, myofascial method doesn’t leave bruising as the gliding movement lifts and separates the fibres and fascial adhesions, releasing muscular tension and trigger points.
Trigger point needling into tight hamstring
Dry Needling
Dry needling or trigger point needling uses fine acupuncture needles and is a subcategory of western medical acupuncture. Although the same fine needles are used in dry needling, the two therapies are very different. Traditional or western acupuncture is a whole medicine of diagnosis and treatment of pathological conditions including musculoskeletal issues. Dry needling is often used in conjunction with acupuncture, physiotherapy, osteopathy and sports therapy to treat myofascial dysfunctions, release trigger points and areas of muscular tension.
My training is in musculoskeletal/myofascial acupuncture for pain relief and I incorporate this and dry needling into my osteopathic treatments along with cupping and kinesiology taping. I have seen great results in my practice using both dry needling and cupping along side soft tissue release and manipulation. Some conditions that have responded well to dry needling are ‘tennis elbow’, ‘golfers elbow, piriformis syndrome and trigger points around the shoulder area.
Please feel free to leave a comment or ask a question below or if you would like to book an appointment with Lisa or Jeremy at our practice in Ealing W5 we have on-line booking https://osteopathwest.fullslate.com/
