As outlined in my earlier post, I first met Rosy at Stemaid Institute and knew immediately that she did not provide a standard massage service. Rather her focus was on removing the toxins from your system by focusing on the nerve and lymphatic channels in the body. This means that she might be putting pressure on the side of your hands for feet to actually be treating issues that she has identified in your stomach, hips or back. My first treatments was painful and she is truly able to sense and feel the areas of your system that need treatment. Now after weekly or bi-weekly treatments at our condo, it is very clear that she has succeed in removing most of the blockages in my system. How do I know – the pushes on pressure points are now rarely painful!

A few weeks ago, Rosy added cupping to her treatments. She describes it as “Part of my work …. improving the functioning of the knees, shoulders and chronic problems throughout the body apart from draining the lymphatic. Very effective.” Having reviewed a number of articles about the benefits of cupping, they can be summarized as:

• Release scar tissue and fascial adhesions.
• Reduce painful trigger points.
• . Reduce inflammation.
• Improve circulation, blood and lymph circulation.
• Relieve pain.
• Promote mobility and range of motion.
• Improves mature scars.
• Decrease toxins.

As pointed out by WebMD and a number of other sources, there a not a lot of good, refereed journal articles about the benefits of cupping but anecdotal studies have shown consistent benefits. In extreme cases, some of these articles suggest having the treatment for four or five days in a row to jump start the healing process. Rosy described to me a patient that was stooped and having difficulty with mobility that after a week of treatment was moving freely, with great overall improvement. Heating the cups results in creating a vacuum under the cup that as it cools, it draws toxins by expanding blood vessels near the surface of the skin. It may result in discoloration of the skin that can last for a few minutes or up to three days. The research suggests that as the discoloration decreases with each treatment, this is demonstrating the toxins in your system are decreasing.