Health Optimization
Cupping & Soft Tissue
Relax, lengthen, recover. Our Cupping & Soft Tissue services include 30-minute treatments based on your needs. Our in-house Athletic Trainer, Mark Shermansky, will assess your needs and incorporate cupping, soft tissue, scraping and other joint mobility offerings based on your needs.
Cupping & Soft Tissue
Mark Shermansky, a well-known professional in the Athletic Training Industry, is behind our Cupping & Soft Tissue offerings and brings his skill set to the Invigory to help our clients resolve their recovery needs. His extensive list of services include Soft Tissue Scraping, Cupping, Stretching, Percussion Massage, Joint Mobilization and more – helping to relax muscle/joint tightness, lengthen muscles, increase range of motion and recover optimal join and muscle function.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is Cupping?
Cupping therapy can be traced back thousands of years to ancient Chinese, Egyptian, and Middle Eastern cultures. Small cups are placed directly on the back, arms, legs, or other areas of the body. Suction is applied to each cup pulling the skin, muscle, and fascia upwards while increasing blood flow to the area and flushing out toxins. This speeds muscle recovery, reduces pain and inflammation, and promotes an increase in blood circulation.
What is Scraping?
Muscle scraping is one of the oldest techniques in Chinese medicine, where a jade stone or animal horn was smoothed and used to scrape across a patient’s skin in one direction. This repeated scraping across the skin was believed to enhance blood circulation to the area, promoting healing. Nowadays, a smooth piece of metal is scraped or pressed into well-lubricated muscle tissue. Muscle scraping is effective on scar tissue, chronic tendinitis, post-surgical adhesions, pain, and fascial restrictions. Scraping aids in breaking up adhesions while preserving healthy tissue. Muscle scraping may improve circulation, decrease muscle tension, release fascial adhesions, and reduce pain.
What are the marks left by cupping?
It’s normal to notice some circular marks left after a cupping treatment. Due to the cups drawing blood to the skin’s surface, temporary marks are left, that may look similar to bruising. Darker marks may represent an accumulation of stagnant toxins that are now being flushed out of the body. These are not to be confused with bruising and fade away over the next few days to a week depending on how dark the mark is.
Does cupping or scraping hurt?
Some clients report tightness/pinching in the area of the cups being placed, but this feeling usually dissipates after a few minutes and most clients find the treatment is relatively pain-free.
How do I find out if Cupping or Scraping is right for me?
Our Certified Athletic Trainer, Mark, can treat a range of people- whether you are a marathon runner or suffering from chronic back pain. Free consultations are available to determine if cupping or scraping is right for you and to answer any questions you may have before your first appointment!
