The “Gua Sha” treatment has been used in Asia to efficiently prevent diseases and detoxify the body.
Gua Sha defines a scraping massage technique which is being performed using an edged object. This mainly activates and regulates one’s metabolism and therefore balances the body’s energy flow.
Gua Sha has a strong detoxifying and cleansing effect in that it transports harmful elements out of the body.
TCM applies this form of treatment in different levels of intensity, depending on disease pattern and individual circumstances.
What happens during a Gua Sha session?
The main area of application for Gua Sha is a patient’s back. The skin is scraped using a special blunt tool (a flat, wide object) with different levels of intensity.
Depending on the disease pattern and also in the case of a preventive treatment, the scraping activates reflex zones and acupuncture points and/or stimulates specific organs.
Scraping is generally barely or only slightly painful and leaves marks on the skin, which can remain for up to six days.
The threshold for pain differs from patient to patient. Only few patients perceive Gua Sha as (slightly) painful, but this perception can vary.
Professional practitioners, however, will always check with the patient’s well-being and pain perception and adjust the treatment’s intensity accordingly.
Indications and disease patterns
This procedure, still known little in Europe, is used to treat:
- internal diseases (asthma, diarrhea, acid reflux, gastritis, hypertony/hypotony, etc.)
- muscoskeletal diseases (fybromyalgia syndrome, cervical syndrome, dorsalgia, low-back pain, etc.)
- psychosomatic diseases (depression, states of exhaustion, nervousness, sleep disorders, etc.)