I use Glide Cupping for passive recovery as well as active treatments. I use passive cupping to enhance the effects of different types of massage and stretching. Silicone Cups are applied to the target tissues and improve interlayer gliding—a much-needed effect to enhance tissue mobility and range of motion. They can also be applied statically for a period of time to relax the area. Cupping with movement can reduce pain or assist in retraining a movement pattern. With cups on, adding movement patterns that were painful or dysfunctional can reduce threat, decrease pain and improve body awareness.
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Silicone Glide Cupping is generally regarded as safe, effective. It is one of the oldest treatments we know of and as research continues to build, we will see the use of myofascial cupping continue to grow.
Glide Cupping benefits
EXPLAINED
Glide Cupping massage for stress relief is a wonderfully unique adaptation of cupping—and different from the more common or traditional cupping therapies. While most people are familiar with stronger, often less-than-relaxing cupping applications that commonly leave cupping marks, silicone glide cups can be employed in a variety of ways to address a multitude of ailments, including stress and anxiety. Just like the hands of a skilled massage therapist can induce relaxation, glide cupping can be used to facilitate stress relief, most often not leaving any cupping marks to achieve benefit.
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Therapeutic cupping employs negative pressure to approach the body for treatment, which is something unique only to cups. Considering most manual therapies employ positive pressure, this concept of administering bodywork that creates space can be quite the welcome sensation.
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Rather than using strong pressure and vigorous movements, non-aggressive cupping techniques can offer universally calming results to the entire central nervous system due to its relaxing effect on all sensory receptors. Similar to how the relaxing, light pressure strokes done by hand – often called nerve strokes—can calm someone, using cups with various soothing applications can evoke a tranquil response in the central nervous system. Once cupping begins to take effect, the peripheral repercussions can have a profound effect on the entire central nervous system, thereby inducing deep relaxation.
One of the most common areas to work with cups for stress relief is over the back along the paraspinals, and across the shoulders. The naturally decompressive sensation of cups can be disorienting to tight areas stuck in a state of contraction; this altered sense of manipulation can ultimately promote some much-needed muscle relaxation and release of tension.
Applying non-aggressive cup placements that progressively soften and hydrate tissues, moving cups slowly with lighter pressure along these common lines of tension, even lightly sliding over the rib cage to create expansion and induce a deeper sense of breath, all collectively can be a great stress-relieving treatment.