What is Gua Sha?

At first glance, Gua Sha can seem counterintuitive to many people. Essentially, it involves using a tool to abrade parts of the body experiencing pain or stagnation, specifically to create bruising and redness. You’d be right to think this appears to be further injuring an already-compromised part of the body. How can that possibly help, you might ask?

The answer lies in the incredible power of the body’s own healing mechanics. As with other aspects of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Gua Sha works with the body, supporting and boosting its own healing processes. Many injuries to the body’s soft tissues result in reduced blood-flow, which creates a downward spiral of ongoing injury and stagnation to the area, since blood-flow is what carries everything everything necessary for healing. When a Gua Sha practitioner abrades the area with a Gua Sha tool, it puts a spotlight on that area, making the immune system immediately aware and prompting a healing response. The abrasions break down adhesions in the muscle fascia and other soft tissue, increasing microcirculation and freeing the body to carry nutrients and other healing properties to the tissue.

Despite some skepticism in recent years, this ancient practice has received a considerable amount of validation from the scientific community. Researchers from institutions like Harvard and Beth Israel Medical Center are demonstrating both efficacy as well as insight on why Gua Sha works. A study published in a 2011 edition of Pain Medicine demonstrated that Gua Sha decreased pain for chronic neck pain sufferers, noting that “Neck pain severity after 1 week improved significantly in the Gua Sha group compared with the control group (heat therapy).”

Researchers have used various techniques, including Doppler images, to show that microcirculation is indeed increased in the treated area, therefore decreasing both local and distal areas of pain. In the mice model, gua sha was shown to influence an enzyme (Heme Oxygenase-1) that has a protective antioxidative effect in the cells.

All of this shows that, as is increasingly common with ancient medicinal practices, modern science is validating the cultural knowledge that has been passed down through countless generations.

The most important thing to consider is your own individual needs and circumstances. Reassuringly, Gua Sha is a very low-risk practice with little to no downside, so if you are experiencing pain or stiffness, we would love to schedule an initial treatment for you to try Gua Sha and see how it works for you!

Sources:

Braun, et al. “Effectiveness of Traditional Chinese ‘Gua Sha’ Therapy in Patients with Chronic Neck Pain: A Randomized Control Trial” Pain Medicine 2011; 12:362-369

Chan, et al. “Guasha-induced Hepatoprotection in Chronic Active Hepatitis B: A Case Study” Clinica Chimica Aca 412 (2011) 1686-1688

Kwong, et al. “Bioluminescence Imaging of Heme Oxygenase-1 Upregulation in the Gua Sha Procedure” Journal of Visualized Experiments 2009; 1-3.

Nielsen, et al. “The Effect of Gua Sha Treatment on the Microcirculation of Surface Tissue: A Pilot Study in Healthy Subjects” Explore September/October 2007, Vol. 3, No.5