Gua Sha

Gua sha is well known for being used in the beauty industry, but it is actually a practice of Chinese medicine that has been used for over 2,000 years to treat a number of conditions.

What is gua sha?

‘Gua’ means to scrape and ‘sha’ means red spots – together they mean scraping the body leading to red spots developing under the skin. In Chinese medicine, health is dependent on the smooth flow of Qi (energy) and blood and, if they stagnate, disease and local pain can present. By gently scraping along acupuncture channels and muscles, Qi and blood is encouraged to move. This causes the body to dispel old stagnant blood and toxins and encourages fresh blood to the area – this allows the body to heal, circulation to improve and the muscles to repair.

What can it treat?

Gua sha is predominantly used to treat pain from muscular tension and knots, especially in the neck, back and shoulders.

It is also used to release excess heat from the body, such as hot flashes experienced during the menopause, release any tension contributing to headaches and expel pathogens from the body that cause a cough or cold.

What do the red spots mean?

Gua sha is a gentle treatment and many patients find it relaxing. The ‘sha’ or red spots that appear represents the body’s response to throwing out old blood and toxins from the muscles. The darker the colour of the spots and the more spots there are, the better the reaction to treatment and the more effective the healing response will be. 

The red spots will gradually fade, but depending on the colour and number of red spots, this may take up to a week.