Guasha Technique

[fish man]

Surfing around, I found this link:
http://www.guasha.com/

Interesting.

I witnessed once a demonstration on this, but not really tried it.
Anybody experiences with this?

 

[Arraaghhhh...!!!]

There was a Vietnamese woman who did nails at a spa where I once worked who showed me how to do the same technique with a spoon. From what she told me, it is a household thing over there, every one knows about it. I've never used this technique on a sick person so don't know if the claims are true. It does make the area feel warm and a little uncomfortable.

 

[jtrusnik]

I actually had this done about 2 months ago along with a little bit of cupping. The cupping was done on my lower back while the guasha was done on my shoulders and upper back. I have to say it was extremely uncomfortable, and relieved none of my shoulder and mid back pain. The bruising didn't fade for about a week. It's not for me, and I wouldn't do it again or advise anyone else to do it either if they have any pain in the area that would be worked.

 

[Chylers Mom]

I worked in a Vietnamese owned and operated clinic for a number of years and many of the people would come in with what appeared to be the same type of technique applied by someone at home. Also, "usually with a spoon".

I have never had it done, but more than a few said it was important in increasing healing rate.

Hopefully we have someone on the forum who has some knowedge of the culture and application who can give even more information!

 

[2010 :)]

gua sha/cupping

One of my instructors, who was trained in China and taught asian modalities, introduced us to gua sha and cupping in tui na. Neither technique should hurt and discomfort should only be slight if any. It's certainly not the solution for everything and I tend to use it to help clear an area that's very congested after I use other techniques on it rather than to solve the problem. I have used it with a client who was doing a thorough detox though. I do warn clients about the possibility of color (yes, explaining that 3" hicky on your back could be problematic if you didn't know about it). Apparently, if there aren't a lot of toxins in the area, there is no color to speak of regardless of how long the cups are on or how long one "scrapes" or at least that is how it has looked to me. I use both techniques on my children and believe me, they would speak up if they felt any discomfort! If you want to see something freaky, bleeding cupping is it. Thankfully I'm not qualified to do that and not sure I would even if I could.

Maire

 

[Simon]

I love gau sha

We learned gau sha in school. It's very easy. It is used to get rid of seforum.xxxnant blood and Qi. I have had it done on me a few times in class. The red blotchyness only shows up where there is seforum.xxxnant blood or Qi. Some people in the class got a lot of it and some little to none. I did gua sha on my brother and nothing came up on him. It doesn't hurt. I think it feels good and some of my classmates agree. Some people I know hate it and if done without enough lubricant it's uncomfortable. We used a canning jar lid in class. You hold it at a 45 degree angle and scrape. The blotches are called petichae or something similar. I'm not sure of the spelling. I felt it helped to relieve congestion in the tissues and in class we learned that it was the interstitial fluid and seforum.xxxnant blood coming to the surface of the skin. It lasts a few days to a week depending how much rises up. Fun to try anyway.

 

[mechvegas]

Hopefully we have someone on the forum who has some knowedge of the culture and application who can give even more information!

Hoping by now we have some more people that can address this post from so many years ago....

 

[undercoverbabe911]

If you are looking for a great resource for Gua Sha, I recommend the book"Gua Sha: A Traditional Technique for Modern Practice by Arya Nielsen" Though I had taken a module on this topic it was nice to have it on hand and reference to.

You may also want to look in to a cupping method called "sliding cups". You can find that method and 10 others in the book "Traditional Chinese Medicine Cupping Therapy by Ilkay Z. Chirali " another great resource