Do i looked like an abused wife or what?
Don't worry, no one beat me or anything. These bruises were caused by the cupping therapy (拔罐, ba guan) that i had today. The bruised area was wide, from my left shoulder (front and back) to the left upper arm. I guess i'll be wearing long sleeves until the bruises clear off.
As i've mentioned, the sprain of my left hand wasn't fully healed and i've been feeling the uneasiness on my hand for more than half-a-year. I've been seeing the Chinese physician several times but the massage only relieved the discomfort for a few days and the tense feeling on the hand would return.
Today, the Chinese physician finally decided to do a different therapy.
Oh boy, cupping therapy was sure painful. The cupping method used was not the heat type but the suction type, which means that no fire was used. The Chinese physician put a transparent cup on my skin and then used a pump-like device to remove the air from the cup and created a suction. Then she moved the cup around my shoulder and arm. When the cup reached an area where there was inner bruising, it felt extremely painful and the bruise that eventually appeared on the skin would be in purple-black color. For the area without problem, i didn't feel any pain and the skin would just turned red.
The Chinese physician was appalled when she saw that the injured area was so big. She said it was rather serious, looking at the colour of the bruises (mostly purple-black). According to her, it was because of the injury on my shoulder that was causing the discomfort on my arm and hand.
The therapy wasn't completed though because i couldn't bear with the pain anymore (i even had tears in my eyes!) and she gotta stopped. She prescribed some oral medication to help blood circulation and asked me to see her again a week later for another therapy. I guess i would have to do it several times before all the inner bruising can be fully healed.
Hopefully we've found the root of the problem this time and fix it once and for all.
