Gua Sha refers to the use of hard objects or fingers with smooth blunt edges such as horns and jade, dipped in gua sha oil, water and other media repeatedly scraped on the surface of the skin, causing bruises, bruises or spot-like bleeding on the surface of the skin, in order to achieve a treatment to prevent and treat diseases.
Gua Sha is one of the traditional Chinese natural remedies with a long history. Because it is a non-drug natural remedy, it has the characteristics of simplicity and obvious effect, and is deeply loved by the public. In recent years, Gua Sha therapy has been increasingly used in health care fields such as strengthening the body, weight loss and beauty.
The role of gua sha health care Gua sha method focuses on the overall conditioning of the body, by scraping meridian acupuncture points to unblock meridians, unblock qi and blood, balance yin and yang, regulate internal organs, thereby enhancing the body's physiological function and healing ability.
1. Unblock the meridians and dispel the evil qi By stimulating the meridians and acupoints on the surface of the human body, Gua Sha plays the role of unclogging the meridians and activating the blood and removing stasis, so that the evil qi (wind, cold, heat, humidity, etc.) that block the meridians is solved from the surface.
2. Adjust the function and support healthy qi Gua sha therapy unblocks the meridians through the stimulation of the body surface, and at the same time regulates the internal organs qi, blood, yin and yang, restores the functions of the internal organs, and plays a role in supporting healthy qi, preventing and curing diseases.
3. Assist in diagnosis, predict pre-disease According to the meridian theory, pathological changes in internal organs and various tissues and organs can appear in the skin of the corresponding meridians, pain, sensitivity, nodules and other manifestations. Therefore, according to the reaction site and the color, part, shape, etc., the minor lesions of the internal organs meridians can be judged, which has a preliminary diagnostic effect on the sub-health state and disease, so as to grasp the changes in the body and do a good job in health care in advance.
Modern research has proved that gua sha can stimulate nerve endings or receptors to produce effects, promote microcirculation, through nerve reflexes or nerve fluid transmission, as well as the brainstem network structure cerebral cortex hypothalamus effective activation, can regulate the functional activities of internal organs, muscles, cardiovascular at a high level. Gua Sha can expand capillaries, increase sweat gland secretion, accelerate the blood circulation of local tissues, strengthen the body's metabolism, and promote the elimination of toxins in the body, so it has been widely used in beauty, weight loss, and improving sub-health.
Gua Sha health utensils Gua Sha tools include Gua Sha board and Gua Sha media.
1. Gua Sha board Generally speaking, any object with a smooth edge can be used as a scraping board. At present, buffalo horn, jade, and stone are mostly used. These materials have the functions of clearing heat and detoxification, activating blood and relieving pain, calming the nerves, emollient and cosmeting, and have the characteristics of smooth and durable, easy to scrub and disinfect.
2. Gua sha medium The ancients commonly used water, sesame oil, tung oil, pig fat and other substances with lubricating effect and agents as gua sha medium, currently mostly used gua sha oil and beauty gua sha milk, the former is processed by medical vegetable oil and traditional Chinese medicine, with the effect of relaxing muscles, activating blood circulation and removing stasis, and dissolving muscles, and can reduce pain and lubricate the skin when used; The latter is generally used for beauty gua sha and has the effect of beauty skin care.
Gua Sha regimen methods:
(1) Holding the board method
The correct way to hold the board is: hold the scraping board with your hand, the bottom edge of the scraping board is resting horizontally against the palm of your hand, and the thumb and four other fingers are bent and placed on both sides of the scraper.
(2) Scraping method
1. Face scraping method Contact the skin with 1/3 edge of the scraper, the scraper and the direction of scraping the skin are at an angle of 30 ° ~ 60 °, and use wrist force to scrape in the same direction many times. It is suitable for meridians and acupuncture points in relatively flat parts of the body, such as the head, abdomen, back, upper and lower limbs, etc.
2. Corner scraping method Use the angular scraping board or the corner of the scraping board, tilt the scraper and the scraping skin at a 45° angle, and scrape from top to bottom at the acupuncture point. It is suitable for some acupuncture points on the joints of the body, around the bony process, and on the shoulders.
3. Tap method The scraper is perpendicular to the skin at the acupuncture point, press downward, gradually apply force, and then quickly lift it for a few seconds to restore the muscles, repeat many times, and the technique is coherent. It is suitable for soft tissues and bone depressions without bones, such as human middle tissue, knee eyes and other acupoints.
4. Patting: Hold one end of the scraper with one hand and pat the acupuncture point evenly with the speed of the end of the scraper. When shooting, apply lubricating oil to the local skin first. Suitable for elbow fossa, knee fossa, lower back, forearm and other parts.
5. Press the kneading method Use the corner of the scraper to press obliquely on the acupuncture point, do a slow, gentle rotation, the angle of the plate does not leave the skin, the strength penetrates into the muscles, with acid, swelling, numbness as the degree. It is often used for acupuncture points such as Hegu, Zusanli, Neiguan, as well as reaction points and other pain-sensitive points on the hands and feet.
6. Vertical scraping method Make the corner of the scraper perpendicular to the acupuncture area, and quickly scrape against the skin. Mostly used on the head.
7. Loose meridian qi method according to the meridian direction, continuous scraping, gentle and even, smooth and gentle. It is often used to regulate the meridians after the treatment of Gua Sha or when health care Gua Sha.
8. Other methods of shaming
(1) Rubbing method: After coating the surface of the skin with a gua sha medium, the surgeon or gua sha person himself uses the second knuckle of the index and middle finger, or the index finger and thumb to pick up the skin and muscles at the application site, instantly slide outward forcefully and then quickly let go, repeatedly, continuously emit a "baba" sound, and the same part can be operated continuously until the point appears.
(2) Squeeze method: The gua sha person uses the nails of the thumbs of both hands to continuously squeeze the application site until a small piece of purple and red shama spots.
(3) Patting method: patting with a virtual palm or using a scraping board to pat the body surface parts, generally itchy, swollen and numb parts.
(3) Scraping parts
According to different health care needs, select the scraping area. Generally, gua sha can be performed on the chest and abdomen, shoulders and back, limbs, head or meridian points related to the sutras.
(4) Gua Sha skills
1. Laxative technique The tonic scraping force is small, the direction of operation follows the meridian direction, and the scars are few, which is suitable for the elderly, frail, long-term illness, serious illness or weak patients. The laxative method has high scraping power, short stimulation time, the direction of operation against the direction of meridian operation, and many scars are "laxative method", which is suitable for patients with new diseases, acute diseases, and strong bodies. The flat supplement and diarrhea method is between tonic and diarrhea, and this method is used more often for health care gua sha.
2. Scratch sickness prevention and treatment of stun scratching, that is, the phenomenon of syncope that occurs during gua sha. The symptoms that appear are dizziness, pallor, pale, cold sweat, cold limbs, nausea or fainting. The reasons for this are usually that the patient is overly nervous or particularly sensitive to pain, or fasting, excessive fatigue, or too long scraping time, too many scraping sites.
Therefore, when using gua sha for health care, the scraping site should be few and fine, and appropriate laxative methods should be selected according to the patient's constitution. At the same time, pay attention to observation, once found that there is a phenomenon of stunning, stop in time. Once the stun phenomenon occurs, the stunned person should be immediately laid down, kept warm, and drink warm sugar water. Or point to the people, the inner pass, the foot three miles, scrape the hundred clubs, gushing springs, can be alleviated.
Common health care gua sha method: The use of gua sha method for health care, can be operated from different parts of the human body, such as the head and face, neck, chest and abdomen, and limbs. There are different health effects on different parts of gua sha:
(1) Head scraping
Head scraping has the effect of improving blood circulation in the head and unclogging the yang qi of the whole body. It can prevent stroke and stroke sequelae, headache, hair loss, insomnia, cold and other diseases.
Since the head has hair covering, it must be scraped with a scraper on the hair, and there is no need to apply gua sha lubricant. For enhanced scraping, scrape with the edge of the scraper or the corner of the scraper. Shave each part about 30 times until the skin is hot. The technique uses the flat tonic and laxative method, in which the doctor supports the patient's head with one hand to keep the head stable.
When scraping the head scraping, you can follow the following route: (1) scrape the sides of the head, starting from the temples on both sides of the head to the Fengchi point, passing through the acupuncture points for the head wei point, jaw disgust point, etc.; (2) Scrape the front head, from the Baihui point through the fontanelle point, the front top point, the Tongtian point, the upper star point to the head of the crying point; (3) After scraping the head, from Baihui Acupoint through the Houding Point, Brain Household Point, Fengfu Acupoint to Dumb Gate Point; (4) Scrape the whole head, with Baihui acupoint as the center, shave radially to the whole hair, pass through the whole head acupuncture point, motor area, language area, sensory area, etc.
(2) Facial gua sha
Facial gua sha has the effect of beauty and freckle removal, and can also be used to treat facial paralysis, freckles, acne, eye diseases, nose diseases, ear diseases, and other facial features.
Because facial shavage affects the beauty, so the technique should be gentle, so as not to appear as the degree, and the face does not need to apply blood activating agent, usually use the tonic method, avoid using gravity to scrape a large area. Direction: Press the muscles from the inside to the outside and scrape. May be used once a day.
Facial scraping can be operated according to the following lines: (1) scrape the forehead, separate from the midline of the forehead, pass through the fish waist point, and scrape the silk bamboo hole to both sides; (2) Scrape the two cheeks, from the inside through the Chengwei Point, Sibai Point, Xiaguan Point, Listening Palace, Auricular Point, etc.; (3) Scrape the lower jaw, with the pulp bearing point as the center, through the underground warehouse point, Daying point, cheek car point, etc.
(3) Neck scraping
The human neck has six yang meridians passing through, supervising the veins passing through the neck, so often scraping the neck, has the effect of nurturing yin and latent yang, nourishing the body's healthy qi, preventing and treating diseases, and can prevent and treat cervical lesions, such as cervical spondylosis, cold, headache, myopia, pharyngitis, etc.
The shoulder muscles are rich, the force should be heavier, from the wind pool point to the shoulder point, should be in place at one time, without pausing in between. Generally, the method of flattening and flattening laxative is used. The high bone at the back of the neck is a large vertebral point, the force should be gentle, use the supplement method, do not use excessive force, can be scraped with the edge and corner of the scraper. Take the degree of shama.
When scraping the neck, the following lines can be followed: (1) scrape the neck part of the vein, scrape from the dumb point to the large vertebral point; (2) Scrape the sides of the neck to the shoulders, starting from the Fengchi point through the shoulder well point, the giant bone point to the shoulder hip point.
(4) Back scraping
The back pulse and bladder meridian follow, the tu pulse is the sea of human yang veins, which can regulate the yang meridians of the whole body, and the "back Yu points" of the five internal organs are distributed on the bladder meridians on both sides of the spine. Scraping the back can regulate the function of the whole body's qi machine and internal organs, and has a good health care effect.
Back scraping is generally scraped from top to bottom, first scraping the midline of the back and then scraping the bladder meridians and pincer ridge points on both sides. When scraping the midline of the back, the technique should be gentle, and the tonic method should not be used to avoid excessive force to avoid injury to the spine. You can use the scraper angular point between the spinous processes, and the two sides of the back can be seen according to the patient's constitution and condition, and the force should be even, and there should be no pause in the middle.
(5) Chest and flank gua sha
The middle of the chest is followed by the Ren vein, and there are important acupuncture points such as Tiantu, Qizhong, and Dovetail, and scraping the chest can stretch the scorching machine and widen the chest. The ribs of the two flanks are the parts of the less yang bile meridian and the yin liver meridian, and scraping this place can play the role of regulating the hepatobiliary qi machine and raising the yang qi.
Scrape the midline of the chest with gentle force, not too much force, it is advisable to use the flat supplement laxative method. The flank is scraped along the intercostal space with scraper corners. Do not shave at the nipple.
When scraping the chest and flank scraping, you can follow the following route: (1) Scrape the midline of the chest, and scrape from the Tiantu point through the middle point to the dove point. scrape from top to bottom with the corner of the scraper; (2) Scrape the chest and flank on both sides, scrape from the midline from the inside to the outside, first left and then right, and scrape along the ribs from the inside to the outside with the entire edge of the scraper. The Zhongfu acupoint should be scraped from top to bottom with the corner of the scraper.
(6) Abdominal gua sha
The abdomen contains the liver and gallbladder, spleen and stomach, bladder, kidney, large intestine, small intestine and other organs, and there are any pulse, foot less yin kidney meridian, foot taiyin spleen meridian, foot yang ming stomach meridian, so scraping the abdomen can adjust the function of the above organs, especially for digestive system dysfunction has a good therapeutic effect. However, it should be noted that it is forbidden to scrape on an empty stomach or after a full meal, and abdominal scraping is prohibited for acute abdomen, and it is forbidden to scrape in Shenque Point.
When scraping the abdomen, the following lines can be followed: (1) scrape the midline of the abdomen, scrape from the dove point through the middle point and Guanyuan point to the curved bone point; (2) Scrape both sides of the abdomen, from pyloric point to sun and moon point.
(7) Gua Sha of the limbs
The limbs are the main positions of the twelve meridians, and the limb gua sha can directly regulate the meridian qi machine of the whole body, and achieve the role of unclogging qi and blood and adjusting the function of the internal organs by stimulating the corresponding acupuncture points on the meridians. When scraping the limbs, do not force the joints to be scraped. Patients with varicose veins and edema of the lower extremities should be scraped from the bottom up.
When scraping the limbs, the following lines can be followed: (1) Scrape the inner part of the upper limbs, scrape from top to bottom, and the shakuzawa point can be scraped heavily. (2) Scrape the outer part of the upper limb, scrape from top to bottom, pause at the elbow joint, or scrape to the outer guan point in sections. (3) Scrape the inside of the lower limbs, scrape from top to bottom, pass through Chengfu acupoint to the central acupoint, from the central acupoint to the tarsal acupoint, and the acupoint can be scraped heavily. (4) Scrape the outer part of the lower limbs, scrape from top to bottom, from the ring jump point to the knee Yangguan point, and from the Yangling Spring point to the hanging bell point.
Precautions for Gua Sha health: Gua Sha should avoid the wind and pay attention to keeping warm to prevent the local sweat holes of the skin from venting during Gua Sha, and the wind will attack people and aggravate the condition. After the rash, drink a cup of hot water (light sugar salt water is best) and rest for 15~20 minutes. Avoid bathing within 3~4 hours after the rash. Don't go for it. There are more blood stasis, empirical evidence, and heat evidence; False evidence and cold evidence are not easy to get out. Before the spots on the gua sha site have receded, it is not advisable to scrape it again in place. The time of scraping again should be 3~6 days apart, and the skin regression is the standard.
The following contraindications to gua sha should be noted: (1) Critical diseases, such as acute infectious diseases, severe heart disease, hypertension, stroke, blood tendency and other diseases, are prohibited from gua sha. (2) Gua Sha is prohibited for patients with boils, ulcers, carbuncles, macules, unexplained masses under the skin, acute sprains, trauma or fracture sites, edema sites, and severe allergies on the skin of the scraping site. (3) The abdomen and lumbosacral part of pregnant women, the lower abdomen and face of women during menstruation should not be scraped.