Has anyone tried acupuncture or cupping?

Question

it looks weird and creepy to me when foreign objects like needles would be piercing your body and cups would suck blood out of your skin. please enlighten me...

thanks mwah8x

Answer 1

Maybe it would make more sense to you if I explained a  specific use of cupping to you. Cupping is excellent if you have severe bronchitis or trouble with a bad cold thats affecting your lungs. It actually forces the toxins and garbage out of your lungs  super fast so you can get well sooner. Our family has had it done several times over the years and to our amazement we've felt better several days sooner during a cold .Yes, your skin does in fact look like h**l  afterwards but that goes  away in a day or so.What would you rather do?

Be  sick & coughing up loogies for 2 weeks or feel better in  just a couple of days? Cupping and acupuncture is the way to go if you want it over with fast.It's way better than antibiotics especially for those who are allergic to them.

Answer 2

These will produce a placebo effect for the patient, but don't believe in any of the magical things they claim to heal/effect/etc.

Answer 3

I tried acupuncture after a car accident for neck / back pain since my insurance covered it. It seemed like the hokeyest thing ever, maybe my practitioner was incompetent but I felt 0 benefit from it. It was kind of interesting and not painful or anything, but my neck was just as stiff after treatment as before.

Cupping doesn't suck blood out of your skin, though, just to its surface. Like giant alien hickeys all over your back / whatever. That actually provided some relief, but I think it's because more force was exerted on my muscles and it was kind of like a bizarro massage. I had cups combined with electrostimulation, though, so I was getting zapped at the same time.

Some funky stuff, this 'modern medicine'.

Answer 4

I tried both. I felt relaxed for about half an hour afterwards, then my neck and back were sore again.

Answer 5

I have tried both.  The needles are usually felt very slightly if at all and I've had great results.  You have to keep in mind that acupuncture is a therapy process, not a one shot medical treatment.  

Cupping is awesome.  Very much like a deep tissue massage without the intensity.  It doesn't suck blood out of the skin, so much as, it draws it to the surface.

That being said, there is a method of cupping where the skin is tapped with a seven star needle, and then the blood is drawn out.

Answer 6

I've tried acupuncture.  The relaxing atmosphere is nice, but the needles do nothing.  Study after study indicates any positive benefit is just perceived, meaning you can feel better if you expect to, but it doesn't actually heal anything.  There is no data to suggest acupuncture provides an objectively measured benefit.

Cupping on the other hand does nothing.  It creates a low pressure pocket next to the skin.  This causes the tissue to swell as blood tries to get out.  Cupping is in no way able to suck out the bad things while leaving all the good things alone.