Go Away Shoulder Pain!

My right shoulder has been giving me pain for quite some time. I've been going to the masseuse to get the knicks out. It goes off for a while before recurring again.

I was kinda worried that I got to the point where I googled on shoulder pain. I remembered someone telling me that pain in your right shoulder may be a symptom of an underlying illness, and one of them is cancer. As I already have to aunts who are diagnosed with cancer, it kinda got me worried.

Today, it was kinda bad. I decided to see the masseuse again. If the pain still persists, after this I'll get more professional advice. InsyaAllah. Anyway, the masseuse I had this evening told me that my back was heaty and recommended cupping. I was kinda wary at first, but because I've seen the result of cupping on my younger sis once, I thought what the hell..

For general info, in Malay cupping is known as 'bekam' and in Arabic it is called 'al-Hijamah' while in China 'gua-sha'. Cupping involves briefly heating the air in an inverted cup, which then produces a vacuum when the air cools after the cup is applied to the skin.  It is said to therapeutically draw blood flow to areas of pain, which in turn is said to flush capillary beds and re-supply vital nutrients. The suction also mobilises and stretches soft tissue to loosen areas of restriction. It is said that cupping is a safe and effective alternative medicine for the treatment of many diseases by cleaning the blood and promoting blood circulation.

As it is said that an oil massage would help the cupping process better, I was given a half an hour of back and shoulder massage. After that I felt the masseuse fix the cups on my back. To say that it was painful, it wasn't. To say that it wasn't painful, it kinda was. There's this sensation of suction on your skin and it does feel kinda uncomfortable but once the cups are taken off, it kinda feels ok.

I've seen the marks caused by cupping on my sister, so I was kinda expecting the same for myself. While the marks may looks terribly painful, the colour is actually created from the suction and it really doesn't hurt much at all. The masseuse said the marks would last four days to a week. This is because the suction can cause discolouration to the skin from a deep redness to actual purplish bruising which usually fades within three to four days.

I guess my masseuse must have given me massive cupping suction, because right now, I already have quite a few circular discolouration of the skin (in layman's term, bruises) all over my back and shoulders, and which have already turned quite deep purple. Yay.