Body Gua Sha is an ancient Chinese healing technique that’s used to decrease pain and inflammation in the body. The technique is a little bit different than facial Gua Sha, which emphasizes more on the health of the skin. In this article, we’re going to run through all the basics of body Gua Sha as it is used today.
Body Gua Sha is done using Gua Sha tools such as a spoon, coin or a tool made out of jade stone. There are different shapes and sizes of Gua Sha tools that you can use to treat different areas of the body. It’s used in order to increase the microcirculation in the area that it scraped on. It’s also great for getting out knots and for any kind of inflammation in the body, and with the decrease in inflammation, there’s also a decrease in pain, aching and stagnation in the body.
There are a few other things that body Gua Sha in Overland Park can also treat, depending on the area that it is done on. It can be used to treat the common cold, headaches and migraines and it also helps with hormonal imbalances as well. The technique that’s usually used for body Gua Sha is quite different from that used in facial Gua Sha.
For body Gua Sha treatment, you want to apply enough pressure on the area of concern so you can get out any of the knots, and eliminate stagnation. A lot of times, when you’re applying that much pressure, you’ll see the appearance of some red marks where you’re doing the body Gua Sha. This is very normal.
A lot of first-time people who opt for body Gua Sha treatment are a little surprised by the redness of these marks, but really they are just surfacing because of the Gua Sha motion that is breaking little capillaries on top of the skin. These marks usually heals within 3 to 4 days. After the first few days, it’s not as well anymore and you really feel very relaxed and your muscles feel a lot looser after the treatment.
To begin treatment, the patient will need to sit down in the practitioner will applying a bit of Gua Sha oil to the area that’s going to be treated. For neck pain or any cold symptoms or if there’s a slight cough that has begun or for any muscle tension, the neck and upper shoulders are the common areas that will be treated by the practitioner.
When the practitioner is gliding the scraping tool along the patient’s neck, he applies a certain amount of pressure to release the stagnation. Some of the redness will start to appear and those are signs of blood and Chi stagnation in that area of treatment. The appearance of the redness will vary depending on the severity and length of the stagnation.
Although the marks may look intimidating to many people who haven’t tried Gua Sha, it’s not actually that intimidating. Most patients tell us that it’s very comfortable and feels like a deep tissue massage. While this treatment modalities is really amazing for athletes, or those suffering from chronic acute pain or aches, it should be done with caution or avoided in people who are taking blood thinners, have bleeding disorders, menstruating or in pregnant women, especially when it’s done in their lower abdomen. It should also not be done on any areas of the body that have an open wound or an injury.