Gua Sha
Gua sha is a fork therapy that being used extensively in china and south east asia countries. Its uses has been documented in chinese scriptures at 200 BC, and used as stand alone healing modality or supplement the massage or acupuncture therapy.
In chinese, Gua means scrapping, rubbing or friction and sha means the sandy or granular red appearance on the skin. In short, Gua sha is to scrape away the stuck qi allowing the stuck qi to break out from the body as red granular sandy looking entity through the skin.
Gua sha is often apply for muscular disorder condition by scrapping the targeted area repeatedly using gua sha tool. The intention is to unblock the stagnation of qi or blood , promote the blood circulation , stimulate metabolic process and raise the sha. The appearance of the sha is a great indicator to diagnose the nature and severity of the condition. The darker color is the sha indicated the more severe of the stagnation. The sha generally dissappear after 3-4 days , however the sha can last for more than 7 days . This may indicate patient's poor blood circulation and poor metabolic process. Patient is instructed to wear scarf or jacket to cover the sha area and avoid cold air or wind exposure to the sha area.
On top of the muscular disorder condition, gua sha is also used for condition as below :
- Digestive disorders
- Cold, cough , asthma
- Fatigue
- Fever
- Heat stroke
- Headache
- Stiffness, pain and immobolity
There are numerous of gua sha tools are being used. Smooth porseline spoon is the most commonly used for body. Jade or crystal type gua sha tool is often used for facial rejuvenation.
Gua Sha facial therapy helps promote the blood circulation on the facial skin. The facial sculpting can be achieved by using the stroke, lift and ironing gua sha technique on both the motor point and meridian channel on face. By manually stimulating the skin structure of the wrinkle repeatedly using gua sha technique, skin tightening and fine lines reduction are observed following clinical experience.