We often experience pain and sore in the neck, knee, and back. Attribute that to either lousy posture or lifestyle, but the pain is very irritating and disturbing.
One no longer has to live with these kinds of pain and discomfort. Gua Sha, an ancient Traditional Chinese therapy, can relieve the pain with no medications and side effects. Gua Sha is one of the methods you can try at home easily.
In this article, we will show how to perform Gua Sha on Neck, Knee, and Back. You will need another partner to perform Gua Sha for the neck and back. Read ahead to find out how to relieve neck, knee, and back pain almost instantly.
Gua Sha for neck pains
Ideally, the neck has lots of actions to perform. It goes up and down, side to side, in addition to angular movements. It connects with the head, shoulder, and back. Because of its location and functions, there is a possibility of neck pain and neck sore.
At times, because of bad posture or continuously working on the desk, one may develop a stiff or sore neck accompanied by pain.
Instead of having some pain killers, one can think of going in for Gua Sha for the neck. It is a simple and effective therapy that can administer almost anywhere.
- Make the person sit relaxed on a chair with low backrest.
- Loosen the clothes to expose the neck, shoulders, and upper back.
- Apply some warm oil, balm or lotion to the sides and the back of the neck.
- Massage lightly all over the sides and the back of the neck.
- With the palm, stroke from the side of the neck towards the respective shoulders.
- Press firmly on the shoulders with the cupped palms.
- As the person relaxes, use your forearm to massage the sides of the neck with firm pressure going right up to the shoulders.
- Do this massage till the time the neck and shoulders warm up a bit.
- Ask the person to tilt his head a little to the front and left, so that the right side of the neck is a bit stretched and fully exposed.
- Use the dolphin tool or the wing too to scrape the side of the neck in long strokes reaching the shoulders.
- The painful points seem to be just below the center of the neck and near the shoulder. However, the Qi blockage is actually between these two points.
- Scrape with moderate pressure starting from the side of the neck with long strokes and gradually reach the back of the neck.
- Scrape on the shoulder blades too with long and deep strokes.
- In some time, the petechiae develop.
- Continue scraping till it deepens in color.
- Repeat the whole process on the left side of the neck.
- Only one side of the neck may be painful, but scraping should be done on both sides and back of the neck too.
- Once the petechiae develop all over the neck, check for darker spots or differently textured spots. These are the blockage areas. If these have appeared, they need a bit more scraping.
- Communicate with the person to know if he is comfortable.
- Once again, massage the sides of the neck with long strokes of the palm and the forearm.
- The massaged person should drink a lot of water after the massage. It will help to release toxins from the body.
This Gua Sha neck massage should provide relief in some time. The red petechiae will go off in a couple of days, and the pain will also gradually reduce in a few days.
Gua Sha for knee pains
Knee pain is a prevalent complaint, particularly among the middle-aged and above. Along with arthritis, injury, or inflamed ligament, pulled muscles are the most common cause of knee pain.
The femur or the thigh bone connects to the tibia (the shin bone) with the help of muscles and ligaments. Its formation is to allow free movement of the joint. The patellar ligament prominently holds the bones together and offers excellent strength and flexibility to the joint. The knee joint is the biggest joint in the body. It bears the whole-body weight, mainly when walking. While sitting also, the knee supports a lot of weight.
Inflammation of the patellar ligament, the side ligaments, or quadricep tendons can be excruciating. The pain may radiate from the joint onto the quadriceps muscles also in some cases.
Gua Sha can help with any kind of knee pain.
- Though any Gua Sha tool, including the mason jar cap, can be used to scrape the knee, the most effective and popular tool for the knee is the sidekick tool (also known as the flow stick). It is ‘S’ shaped. Stainless steel tool is preferred, but even the stone or buffalo horn tool is suitable.
- Sit on a bench or a couch with the affected leg straightened out. Let the other leg hang down.
- Apply some oil (if possible little warm) or balm all around the knee and on the knee. Spread some of it on the quadricep also.
- Hold the tool with both the hands and scrape the thighs with long and deep strokes. Cover the whole length of the thigh with strokes. Also, angle the tool at 45 degrees for the best results. Use mild to moderate pressure.
- Then with the small side of the tool, scrape the sides of the knee joint to stimulate the muscles and ligaments there.
- Once the side gets done, use both hands, and start scraping the patellar ligament with long and firm strokes just below the knee joint.
- While stroking, you may feel a gritty sensation. These are the adhesions and the blockages.
- Once you have finished scraping all around the knee joint, hang the leg down from the bench, so that the shin bone makes an angle of 90 degrees with the knee.
- Repeat the complete sequence of scraping as done with the legs straightened out.
- You can also make light strokes going from below the knee, to over the knee and onto the thigh. (Though some therapists are not comfortable with the idea of scraping on the knee joint itself. You are free to exercise your choice here).
- As with any Gua Sha therapy, red bruises will develop at all the scraped places.
- The pain should start reducing and ultimately go away in a few days. And so, will the petechia.
- Remember to keep the affected area well lubricated while scrapping to avoid cuts and skin damage.
- Once the massage is over, one must drink plenty of water. It helps flush away the toxins.
Gua Sha for back pains
The back is a significant body part with lots of muscles like the trapezius, rhomboids, lateral, etc. Bad posture or excessive use may make these muscles sore and painful. The upper back is the most common area of complaint with mild to sharp, stabbing pain. It is challenging to self-massage there. Hence, you will need someone to do it for you.
- Make the person lie down prone (back to the ceiling) with his back exposed.
- It is better to support the head straight down on a head pillow and arms by the sides.
- Apply oil or balm to the back and massage all over the back with the firm and long strokes. Use the heel of the palm for more pressure.
- Use the forearms to generate more pressure and slide the forearm all over the back.
- The idea is to warm up the back and loosen the fascia. Ideally, it is not right to do Gua Sha on a cold body.
- Then using the winged tool, start scraping the back from one side. Start by scraping the traps and rhomboids.
- Use short but firm and deep strokes to loosen any adhesion and trapped Qi.
- Work on small areas of the back instead of scraping the whole at one go.
- The bruises or petechiae will start developing, and these are the signs that the obstructions are getting released.
- Depending on the availability of time and capacity to bear the scraping, one can get the entire body scraped in one sitting. Or it may be completed in a couple of sessions.
- Once scraping gets done, massage the whole body again to release all the trapped toxins.
- The should be relief from pain, and within a couple of days, the back should be good.
- Make the person drink water after Gua Sha. It prevents any uneasy feeling and clears off the toxins.
Gua Sha massage can effectively save our day by relieving the neck, knee, and back pain. It is simple, self-administered (except for the back), safe, and very effective.
Avail the healing wisdom of ancient Chinese practitioners and enjoy a pain-free healthy life.
