Comments on: Ba Guan, Chinese Fire Cupping (拔罐)

By: Ben

Ben — Tue, 05 Apr 2011 08:13:59 +0000

I had 刮痧 done by my Vietnamese girlfriend in 2005. I was literally going to die of Flu when she did it for me. I had no idea what was going on, but this really did save me, or so I believed at the time.

Yesterday I had 拔罐 treatment in Zhuhai and I loved it. I will continue to use these methods in the future for sure!

By: Dave

Dave — Thu, 07 Oct 2010 12:47:38 +0000

cry baby

By: Scott Humm

Scott Humm — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 21:42:05 +0000

Just reading through your blog now, and thought I’d comment on my guasha experience in Beijing.
The lady doing it not only charged me 200 kuai for the treatment (cupping, the scraping and a box of burning something or other placed on my stomach), but also managed to burst the skin on my stomach by using too strong a suction. This got infected, and I had to get it dressed every day at the local hospital. I also couldn’t take a shower for 2 months, and I now have a inch-long scar on my stomach. Needless to say, I will never again go for cupping!

By: Marta

Marta — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 08:48:11 +0000

You know, in Poland we also do this ‘fire-cupping’ thing, it’s called ‘bańki’ or ‘banki’, similar to the yiddish term, and is performed as a cure for severe colds. I did get it as a little child, what a horrible experience it was!

By: tayfun

tayfun — Fri, 20 Jul 2007 11:49:49 +0000

that’s done in Turkey as well.

I had it done a few times, especially when i was a child.

By: My Opinions Are Important » Blog Archive » Setting fire to your back is fun

Fri, 29 Jun 2007 00:12:36 +0000

[...] Fire cupping is the name given to a bizarre Chinese medical treatment by which glass cups are attached to one’s back and fire is added. The fire creates a vacuum in the cups, causing suction. [...]

By: Sally Ross

Sally Ross — Thu, 28 Jun 2007 19:12:18 +0000

You’re right this makes a mother worry – your mother! Did you ever think that maybe the reason it feels better afterwards is that it hurts like hell in the process? If not, then you may also want to check out the Miracle Spring Water that they try to sell on BET at 2AM.

By: Pete

Pete — Wed, 20 Jun 2007 22:56:09 +0000

You know that cupping was also a remedy for eastern european jews, called “bahnkes” in yiddish. My dad used to get it growing up in the Brooklyn tenements whenever they got a cold. The resultant hickey would be interpreted as “the poisons” coming up out of the skin.

Now the preferred ethnic remedy is looking up a physician in the directory of medical specialties and cross-referencing with USNews’ best hospitals list . Funny how things change.

I love your blog to pieces.

By: myst

myst — Tue, 19 Jun 2007 18:37:28 +0000

your cupping looked relatively strong. it doesn’t have to be that strong- depends on the person’s constitution and condition etc, and of course the approach of the practitioner. often the marks (just bruises- hopefully not scars!) are gone within a couple of days, a week is on the long side.

many cultures developed versions of cupping. it breaks small capillaries, stimulating local circulation. good for relaxing muscles. helps move stagnant qi and blood, so to speak. supposed to also work for colds etc. but you don’t necessarily have to use such strong stimulation, so many cups etc. it’s a useful therapy but there are different ways to approach it. same with gua sha- not necessarily a scary experience, minus Mr. Muscle man.

By: Gordon

Gordon — Thu, 14 Jun 2007 04:16:23 +0000

I had Gua Sha once – that was the first and last time.

My wife accompanied me to the massage parlor down the road from us in Chengdu. I was on one table with two lovely girls giving me an hour-long body massage for 15Kuai while my wife laid on another table across from me receiving a her massage from a well-built Chinese male. After my time was up, the girls asked me if I would like to have a gua sha. Not knowing what that was, but thinking that it sounded like something sexy and liking the idea of having two girls do this for me, I asked my wife who gave a sheepish smile of approval. Things went downhill from there.

The girls disappeared and Mr. Muscle man came over to my table where he pulled out a bamboo-looking comb and proceeded to give me my gua sha (scrape the bone). That was the longest damn 15 minutes of my life and I carried the marks with me for at least two weeks. My wife still laughs to this very day whenever she thinks about it.