Gua Sha is one of the traditional therapies of Chinese medicine in China. It is used to scrape the skin-related acupoints to relax the channels, activate blood and remove blood stasis. In scraping therapy, the scraping board is indispensable. How to choose a good scraping board and how to use the scraping board correctly? Let’s learn about it together.
How to use the gua sha board
Gua Sha board has thick surface, thin surface and edges and corners. When treating diseases, use a thin face to scrape the skin, and for health care, use a giant face to scrape the skin, and use edges and corners to scrape at acupuncture points near the Tianjie and when you need to press acupuncture points. During operation, it is necessary to master the skills to promote Sha, shorten the stimulation time, control the stimulation intensity, and reduce the feeling of local pain.
1. Angle
It refers to the angle formed by the scraping board and the skin. When the scraping board is perpendicular to the skin, it is the most irritating to the skin, and it is the easiest to scrape out the sha, and it is also easier to produce pain: when the angle between the scraping board and the skin is less than 90° to scrape, it is not like scraping perpendicular to the skin. Gu Sha is easy to occur, and it is not as painful as vertical scraping. Under normal circumstances, it is sufficient to maintain an angle of 60°.
2. Strength
Refers to the power of using the scraping board. The greater the force used, the easier it is to develop Sha, and the higher the patient’s sensitivity; the lighter the force used, the shallower the scraping board cuts into the skin, and the less likely it is to develop Sha, the lower the patient’s sensitivity. High intensity may cause local skin ulceration, while light intensity will not achieve the therapeutic effect. Therefore, the requirement of strength is “heavy but not rigid, light but not floating”.
3. Speed
Refers to the speed of scraping the skin. The faster the scraping speed, the shallower the depth of the Gua Sha cutting into the skin, and the slower the Sha out; on the contrary, the slower the scraping speed, the higher the sensitivity, and the faster the Sha out. When using the Gua Sha board, the key to manipulation is the mastery and control of strength and speed.
4. Direction
It refers to the direction of force acting on the scraping board. The power comes from the back of the scraping board. When you use thrust to scrape, it is more irritating to the skin and it is easier to produce Sha; the strength comes from the front of the scraping board. When you use pulling force, it is not easy to produce Sha, but the patient feels more comfortable.
How to choose the gua sha board
1. Skin care and beauty: Jade gua sha board
Experts in traditional Chinese medicine said that if people with a bad complexion want to use Gua Sha for skin care, moisturizing and other cosmetic effects, it is recommended to use a jade scraping board. When scraping beauty and health preservation, try to use the scraping cream with cosmetic effects as a lubricant.
2. Relieve menstruation and promote blood circulation: Bianstone gua sha board
People who have poor menstrual flow, dysmenorrhea, abdominal distension and pain, and chest tightness, want to use Gua Sha to relax meridians, activate blood and relieve pain and other diseases and health benefits. It is recommended to use a stone scraping board. When scraping, use Gua Sha and blood-activating agent as a lubricant. This is because the Bianstone material contains a variety of trace elements that are beneficial to the human body. Friction with the human body can generate a large number of ultrasonic pulses.
3. To clear away heat and detoxify: buffalo horn scraping board
For people with dry throat, constipation, high fever, dry mouth, yellow urine, etc., who want to use Gua Sha to clear away heat, detoxify, promote blood circulation and reduce stasis, they can use buffalo horn to scrape the Gua Sha board and use the scraping oil as a lubricant. This is because water buffalo horn is a substitute for Chinese medicine rhino horn, which is cold in nature, bitter and salty in taste, and has the effects of clearing heat, cooling blood, and detoxifying. During the operation, hold the scraping board, dipped in lubricant, and scrape evenly on the scraped part of the patient’s body surface in a certain direction. Generally use wrist strength, and adjust the force of scraping according to the patient’s condition and reaction until the sha mark appears under the skin.
Introduce the basic techniques of gua sha
- The method of holding the scraper: hold the scraper with your hands. The thick scraper faces your palm during treatment, and the thin scraper faces your palm during health care.
- Scratch test direction: neck, back, abdomen, upper limbs, lower limbs are scratched from top to bottom, and from inside to outside.
- Replenishing scraping and reducing scraping: Generally speaking, scraping along the meridian is replenishing scraping; scraping test against the meridian is purging scraping.
- Gua Sha time: Scraping is performed by reducing scraping or flattening and relieving methods. Generally, each part needs to be scraped for 3-5 minutes; the scraping time for each part is 5-10 minutes by repairing scraping. There is no strict time limit for health care scraping, based on the principle of self-satisfaction and comfort.
Precautions for Gua Sha
- Pay attention to indoor warmth during Gua Sha treatment, especially in winter to avoid cold and wind vents. When scraping Gua Sha in summer, avoid the fan to directly scrape the test part.
- Avoid taking a cold bath within 30 minutes after scraping.
- It is not advisable to perform another scraping test to get Sha from the original place before the sha spot on the part of the previous scraping. There should be an interval of 3-6 days between Gua Sha again, and the standard of Gu Sha retreat on the skin.
- After scraping, it is best to drink a cup of warm water (preferably light sugar salt water), and rest for 15-20 minutes.
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