Ventosa Massage Cupping Therapy

My wife frequently has tired and sore upper back muscles.  Sometimes, she even finds it difficult to move her head and upper body.  Ventosa Massage Cupping Therapy has helped her a lot.  This technique "sucks" out what we call "lamig" in the Philippines during the treatment.  You will observe the lump inside the glass on your back gradually shrink towards the end of the session.  To see is to believe!

Ventosa Massage Cupping Therapy is performed by placing glass on specific accupoints on your back. A technique is used to create a vacuum inside the glass placed on your back which lifts the skin.  The practitioner then moves the cup toward the outside parts of the body sucking the air away. 

At Chris and Chat Spa, we ask our patients to lie on their back for this therapy.  We only use cups made of strong glass to ensure our client's safety.  To create a vacuum, a flame from a burning cotton ball is placed in an upside-down cup.  When the oxygen in the cup burns out, the cup is placed directly on the skin where it is held in place by a strong suction.  This draws the skin up inside the cup.  Don't worry, this will not burn your skin.  The flame is just needed to create vacuum for the suction effect.

The skin inside the cup reddens due to the strong cupping which indicates that circulation has been brought to the surface.  There is a deep warmth and tingling sensation after the treatment.  Ventosa Cupping is generally a painless procedure. The redness should disappear in a day or two.

It's interesting to note that this technique is known to open the "Meridians" of the body.  According to traditional Chinese medicine, the flow of "qi" travels throughout the body in channels called Meridians.  These are the conduits through which energy flows to every part of the body.  Illness results when the qi is blocked at certain points or is not flowing properly throughout the body.

Ventosa Cupping opens these Meridians in the body.  The stagnated and out of balanced qi can be restored by exerting suction and pressure resulting in invigorating energy flowing throughout the body.  Cupping can also be used when qi needs to be drawn to the surface of the body from deep within to nourish muscles and the skin.

A recommended book on Cupping is The Art of Cupping. Hedwig Manz (click on the link to view the details).  This book is for practitioners and students who want to be trained on Ventosa Cupping Therapy.  It contains very clear black and white illustrations from the author's practice and shows the exact placement of cups.  This is a valuable book that meets its goals of detailing wet and dry cupping for 45 different disorders with clear illustrations.  You will certainly learn a lot from this book.  But do take caution before applying this Ventosa Cupping technique on yourself or another person.  It still takes experience to do this right.  So experiment if you want, but take caution.


Ventosa Massage Cupping Therapy helps alleviate pain, remove toxins, and allows the body to feel rested after the session.   It is better to help your body to be self healing rather than rely on external assistance, such as medications.

To maximize the benefits of a true therapeutic massage, we recommend undergoing Deep Tissue Massage after a Ventosa Cupping Massage.