All of these conditions may be improved with guasha.
Guasha literally means scrapping sand. The sand represents the toxins that get trapped at the surface of the body. Today guasha is done with bone or jade guasha tools. Some practitioners use silver or gold coins and call the art coining. Many use the tops of jars or spoons. It is a proven therapeutic practice developed simultaneously across many cultures in many areas of health.
Pain that keeps coming back may be a result of metabolic waste that is trapped at the surface of the body. The classic test for guasha is done with finger pressure in the area. If the finger-pressed blanched skin is slow to return then a guasha session is recommended.
Guasha moves Qi and Blood, releases the exterior, and moves the fluid and metabolic waste at the same time. It removes the chronic, persistent Qi stagnation that is stuck at the surface. Is it always in pain there and does it come back to the same place?
In Chinese Medicine many diseases are created from the attack of an external pathogen. Guasha releases the exterior and draws out pathogenic factors at the surface. These pathogenic factors includes Wind, Heat, Cold, and Damp.
Guasha is contraindicated with skin rashes, warts, boils, scars, carbuncles, lesions, varicose veins, ulcers, skin tags, hives, moles, sunburn, and abrasions that are at the surface. It is not used in pregnancy on the lower abdomen or lower back. It is not used with thin skin where the skin is not elastic enough to manage the firm pressure. It is not used with patients who bruise or bleed easily. Guasha has to be used with caution with deficiency disorders and fibromyalgia.
Guasha can take from 3 days to 3 weeks to heal. After receiving guasha it is important to follow these guidelines.