Prolonged hours sitting at a desk with poor posture and/or looking down often (aka “text neck”) is a common cause of neck and back pain. Cupping, more specifically “gliding cupping” is an effective method to help relieve muscle tension in these areas and provide almost immediate relief.
Gliding cupping involves moving the cups along specific muscle fibers in an effort to clear out areas of tension/stagnation and help to improve blood flow. Depending on how chronic the tension in an area is, the bruise-like marks may vary in color as well as how long they stay visible. It’s also normal for the area of application to be tender to the touch for a period of several days thereafter.