d. Cupping (拔火罐 bá huǒguàn)

Being physiotherapy as well as acupuncture and moxibustion, cupping is one of the most effective TCM treatments that can be applicable to children. Just as its name implies, this therapy has the aid of cups – commonly bamboo cups, ceramic cups, heat-resisting glass cups, red copper cups, horn cups, and so on.

The process of cupping is putting flaming specific materials into a specialized cup and then pressing the mouth of the cup on specific acupuncture points or infected parts. According to modern medicine, the negative pressure producing from the heating cup can impel the hyperemia of partial blood capillaries, rupture erythrocytes and create extravasated blood and hemolysis, which are helpful to produce some histamine, make the histamine circulate in the body, stimulate and activate organs and enhance one’s immunity.

The “Fifty-two Therapies” unearthed in the Mawangdui Han Tomb, which is the oldest Chinese medical book written during the Spring and Autumn Period and Warring States Period, has noted about horn cupping in ancient China. Also, many other historical books and records show that animal horns were the common cupping tool in ancient China which proves that cupping had been used in China at least since 6th – 2nd century BC.