Massage & Cupping in Long Beach, CA

Benefits of Massage & Cupping

Massage and cupping are the oldest forms of medicine and have been part of every culture throughout history. Massage not only feels great, but it's highly therapeutic. It increases blood circulation throughout the body, relieves sore muscles and joints, breaks down scar tissue or "knots", and helps remove toxins by activating the lymph system.

Massage works hand in hand with chiropractic. The nerves control the muscles. If there's a pinched nerve causing a muscle to spasm, the muscle is massaged to help it relax — but that's only treating the symptom. With chiropractic, we address the root cause by relieving the pressure on the nerve which controls the muscle spasm.

Cupping Therapy

Cupping uses either fire or a pump to create a negative pressure (vacuum) inside the cup, which is then placed on the skin. This vacuum pulls the skin, muscle, and fascia slightly up into the cup, bringing fresh oxygen and nutrient-rich blood in through the injured tissues to help them heal more quickly.

At the same time, cupping helps pull old toxins and stagnant blood out of the muscle belly, knots, and surrounding area to the surface of the skin so it can be recirculated and filtered out of the body. This is what leaves the red and purple marks on the skin — like a "giant hickey."

What's remarkable about cupping is that those colored marks indicate where and how badly the area is congested. The darker the color, the more old toxic blood was trapped in that area. With each subsequent cupping session over the same area, the dark spots get lighter and eventually go away — replaced with new, healthy blood.

Does It Hurt?

Many people ask this — and in fact, not at all. It's very relaxing. Many Olympians receive cupping to increase their performance and decrease recovery time. Michael Phelps was seen with cupping marks on his back and shoulders the year he broke the world record in gold medals for swimming.

Cupping is an essential part of modern sports medicine. At SOHMA our doctors "treat you like an Olympian."

Advanced Cupping Techniques

Advanced techniques include performing acupuncture and then placing a cup over the needle — designed to move Qi and blood in that area. This should only be performed by an experienced acupuncturist.

Another technique, moving cupping, involves applying lotion or oil to allow the cup to slide over the affected area, breaking down scar tissue and flushing the area with healthy new blood.

When deciding between fire cupping and pump-action cupping, we recommend leaving it to the practitioner — whatever they are most comfortable with delivers the same excellent result.

What to Expect

All of our doctors at SOHMA are trained and experienced with cupping, and we have two licensed massage therapists on the team.

• Massage: Prices range from $1/minute to $90/hour. Insurance verification available.
• Cupping therapy: $40–$80 per session, typically 30 minutes.