How did gua sha cupping develop?

Scraping therapy as one of China's ancient folk therapy, its history can be traced back to more than 2,000 years ago, "Yellow Emperor's Classic of Internal Medicine" era, is a stone therapy or piercing therapy of a kind, the payoff is passed on to each other, along the use of not abolished. In the Song Dynasty, Wang Pei called it "Taocaozi" in his Treatise on Miasma and Malaria. Bao Chi Tui Na Fa recorded: "Scraping, the doctor's finger next to the skin, slightly added force and down." It is mostly used for the treatment of gua sha, that is, summer heatstroke or hot and humid malaria epidemic disease, the skin often appear red spots, also known as "summer law". After the Yuan and Ming dynasties, the experience of folk treatment of gua sha disease attracted the attention of medical doctors. For example, Gui Yilin's "world medicine to get effective formula" on the "cholera sand" described: "heart and abdominal cramps, cold sweat, distension and want to die, want to be called cholera sand." Another example, Yang Qingcao's "immortal transmission of surgical recipes", Wang Kendang's "evidence of treatment", Yu Bo's "medical biography", Gong Ting kidney's "Shou Shi Bao Yuan", Zhang Jingyue's "Jingyue quanquan" and so on are recorded on the gua sha disease and treatment of experience of gua sha. To the qing dynasty, guo zhi deep wrote the first gua sha monograph "gua sha bloating yu heng", in the gua sha disease origin, popular, performance, classification, gua sha method, tools and comprehensive treatment methods and so on have made a more detailed exposition. For example, in the treatment of pointed out: "backbone neck bone up and down, and chest before coercion ribs, two back shoulder gua sha, with a copper coin dipped in sesame oil scraping. Head and legs on the Gua Sha, with yarn or twine dipped in sesame oil scraping. Large and small abdomen soft flesh within the gua sha, with salt to hand rubbing." Thereafter there is another gua sha monograph - Lu Leshan's "health mirror" came out. This two books become can make gua sha leap for a specialty technology cornerstone. From then on, the Qing dynasty on gua sha disease monographs are increasing, there are more than ten, other writings in the record of gua sha medical technology is more.

When it comes to the efficacy of Gua Sha, "Gua Sha" is crucial. After scraping gua sha the skin surface will appear red, purple, black spots or black blisters phenomenon, known as "out of gua sha". This is a normal reaction after scraping Gua Sha, a few days after the disappearance of their own, do not need to make special treatment. The process of Gua Sha is a kind of blood vessel dilation to capillary rupture, blood flow outflow, skin localized ecchymosis phenomenon, this blood clot soon that can collapse and disappear. "Gua Sha", with a modern microscope to observe, is the subcutaneous tissue of the capillary blood stasis, this man-made "trauma", it is the Western medicine can not understand and can not accept the place. Since it is a cure, it should be for people to get rid of the disease and eliminate pain, why add new injuries to the body? The theory of Chinese medicine is: most of the diseases are caused by stagnation of qi and blood, "gua sha" is a product of the excretion of disease. The "out of Gua Sha" means "to give the evil out of the way", so as to improve the balance of qi and blood.

From the perspective of modern pathophysiology, gua sha is through the regulation of the nervous, endocrine and immune systems, from the overall coordination of the body's various tissues and organs function. This holistic and balanced view is exactly what the science of Chinese medicine is all about. "Gua Sha" skin red, looks a little scary. In fact, no matter how red, there is no need to worry, because it is not harmful to the skin. The color of the red spots is usually a reflection of the severity of the disease. Heavier disease, "chasha" out more, the color is also deep; on the contrary, the condition is light, "chasha" out less, the color is also lighter. In general. Skin "stasis" will gradually subside in 3-5 days, late some will not be more than 1 week will return to normal, not only will not damage the skin, but also because of this method of blood circulation, strengthen the local blood circulation, will make the skin become healthier than the original.

Scraping in the human body, can play a role in promoting metabolism, discharging toxins, soothing tendons, adjusting yin and yang and several other aspects of the role. China's traditional Gua Sha therapy is a smooth edge of the tender bamboo plate, porcelain piece, the edge of the porcelain bowl, a small spoon, copper, glass or ramie and other utensils that are not easy to damage the skin, dipped in edible oil, wine, water or grease, in the human body skin surface from the top to the bottom, from the inside to the outside of the repeated scraping until the skin appears to be the phenomenon of red patches or ecchymosis patches in order to lift the pain and treatment of the disease of the folk nature of the simple treatment methods The method is a natural and simple folk treatment method. It is mostly applied to the treatment of diseases occurring in summer and fall, such as heat stroke, wind-heat colds, gastrointestinal and digestive disorders.

Modern Gua Sha therapy is under the guidance of the basic theory of Chinese medicine, follow the operation of the meridians and lesion characteristics, with special Gua Sha instrument or buffalo horn Gua Sha board and has a heat detoxification, blood circulation pain lubricant, in the ancients Gua Sha on the basis of the more extensive treatment of diseases of a kind of external treatment method. Because the Gua Sha therapy has the prevention and treatment of disease, health care strong body, no need to take medicine, simple and easy to do and see the effect of the characteristics of very fast, by the medical patients welcome.

"Fire cupping" is also a unique method of curing disease that has been passed down in our country for a long time, commonly known as "cupping" and "suction tube", which was used in ancient times for surgical carbuncles and swellings. In the beginning, it was just to use the ox horn tube with small holes to cover the affected part to suck pus and blood, so it was named as "horn method" in some ancient books. The earliest written record of fire cupping for treating diseases is 281-361 AD. The earliest written record of fire cupping for treating diseases is the book "Post-elbow Emergency Formula" written by Ge Hong of Jin Dynasty during 281-361 AD. In the book, it was mentioned that the horn method was used to treat swelling, and the horn used was a cow's horn. In view of the prevalence of this method at that time, the application is not easy to cause accidents, so Ge Hong especially cautioned to carefully select the indications, the book emphasized: "Carbuncle, tumor, stone carbuncle, knotted tendons, scrofula, can not be on the needle on the horn. Needle angle, fewer than the scourge." ("After the elbow to prepare the emergency prescription - volume") This is obviously justified, even with today's eyes, most of the listed diseases, but also really is not an indication for cupping.

During the Sui and Tang dynasties, there was a breakthrough in cupping tools. Beginning to use the bamboo cans after the chipping process to replace the animal horn. Bamboo cans are widely available, inexpensive and easy to obtain, greatly contributing to the popularization and promotion of this therapy; at the same time, the bamboo cans are lightweight, strong suction force, but also to a certain extent, to improve the therapeutic effect. In the Sui and Tang dynasties in the medical books, recorded in this area more content is Wang To's "outside the secret of the Taiwan".

If, in the Sui and Tang dynasties or animal horn and bamboo canisters are used alternately, then, to the Song, Jin and Yuan dynasties, bamboo canisters have completely replaced the animal horn. The name of cupping therapy, also by the "suction tube method" to replace the "horn method". In the operation, it is further developed into the medicine tube method by simply boiling the boiling cupping tube method with water. That is, the first bamboo cans in a certain prescription prepared by the drugs cooked in the standby, when needed, and then the cans in boiling water after cooking, the heat pulled on the acupoints to play the dual role of suction and external treatment of drugs.

By the Ming Dynasty, cupping had become one of the most important external treatments in Chinese surgery. At that time, some major surgical works almost all listed this method. It was mainly used to extract pus and blood to treat carbuncles and swellings. In the suction and extraction method, compared with the previous generation, there are some improvements. Used more is the bamboo canister directly in the multi-flavored Chinese medicine decoction, boiling directly suction and extraction. Therefore, the bamboo canister is also known as medicine brief. This method of boiling and pulling the medicine tube, in the Ming and Qing Dynasties, some important surgical works such as "Surgery Dacheng" as well as the "Medical Zong Jinjian", there are details of varying descriptions, indicating that this method was very popular.

To the Qing Dynasty, the cupping method gained greater development. First of all, the cupping tool is another innovation. Bamboo cans are cheap and easy to get, but the suction is poor, and after a long period of drying, it is easy to produce dry cracks and leakage. In order to make up for this deficiency, the Qing Dynasty appeared fired clay pots, and formally put forward the term "fire pot" which is still in use today. In this regard, the Qing Dynasty Zhao Xuemin's "Gleanings from the Materia Medica" book narrative is quite detailed: "fire cans, right of the river and Minzhong have, the Department of the kiln household burned for sale, as small as a big man's finger, the belly of the two ends of the narrow, so that to promote the mouth to accept the fire gas, all suffering from all the wind and cold, are used in this jar." At the same time, a change in the past to the focal area as the site of cupping, the use of suction and extraction points to improve the therapeutic effect. At the same time, the therapeutic scope of cupping therapy also broke through the boundaries of successive generations of mainly suction and extraction of pus and blood sores and poisons, and began to be applied to a variety of diseases.

At the same time in Wu Shangxian's work "Li Bo Ewen" and Qi Hongyuan's "surgical heart secret", for our country's origin, use and indications of fire cans, etc., introduced more clearly.

Scraping and cupping, as the treasure of Chinese medicine, has experienced thousands of years of wind and rain. With its simple and practical characteristics are revered by the people, and play an extremely important role in the future of human history.