Cupping

Fire cupping is a method of applying acupressure by creating a vacuum next to the patient's skin, used in traditional Chinese medicine (TCM). It involves placing glass, plastic, or bamboo cups on the skin. The therapy is used to relieve what is called "stagnation" in TCM terms, and is used in the treatment of respiratory diseases such as the common cold, pneumonia, and bronchitis. Cupping is also used to treat back, neck, shoulder, and other musculoskeletal pain. Its advocates claim it has other applications as well. This technique, in varying forms, has also been found in the folk medicine of Vietnam, the Balkans, modern Greece, Cyprus, Mexico, Russia and Poland. In Poland, it is referred to as banki (singular banka) and in Iran it is called 'bod-kesh', meaning 'pull with air'. Cupping was also commonly used as a Eastern European Jewish folk remedy, with the Yiddish name bankes. Cupping is also sometimes practiced in BDSM for stimulation or pain.