Be Well

WITH LAUREN DECKARD

GUA SHA

A healing method over 700 years old, not a Tik Tok fad

By Lauren Deckard, LMT, NASM-CPT Owner of Peak Mobility

THANKS to Tik Tok and “covid fads,” Gua Sha has made a resurgence into the mainstream. But is what these influencers showing us actually accurate? Imagine picture one, the before – already perfectly dewy skin, sans wrinkles. Swipe to picture two – still wrinkle-less and dewy, but now with an uplifted glow. While these influencers with already perfect skin want people to believe that the days of Botox are over, this isn’t completely true. In the world of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), Gua Sha is well known for:

• Increasing circulation • Promoting lymph drainage/stimulate the immune system • Reducing inflammation • Decreasing stiffness and muscular/fascial pain • Assisting in flushing toxins

Gua Sha is not just a recent Tik Tok fad geared toward smoothing out wrinkles, it is one of the oldest healing modalities in the world - a TCM practice that goes back hundreds of years. The 700+ year old practice has been passed down from generation to generation, making it difficult to credit just one person with its origin. When asked about its origin, Dr. James Tin Yau So, the founder of the first acupuncture school in the United States, stated, “Where to learn? Everybody knows!” Isn’t it amazing that such a treatment is used in every household and has been passed down for generations? Gua sha was originally used for relieving the symptoms of seasonal diseases, like the flu or a cold, and would be performed with whatever was accessible, like a soup spoon, a jar lid, or a coin. Literally anything. It was also documented as far back as the Yuan Dynasty to revive farmers who collapsed with heat exhaustion while working.

TMJ pain? Gua Sha can help. Sore quads from lifting or sitting too much? You got it? Stress headaches? Grab your Gua.

Gua Sha is translated as (gua) ‘to scrape,’ (sha) ‘sand.’ The sha is the result of stroking your skin with a tool which creates small, red dots that appear on the skin’s surface. In western medicine, this is called ‘petechiae’ (Thanks for that fun word western civilization). These tiny red dots are caused by broken capillaries (tiny blood vessels under the skin). Don’t worry! ‘Scraping’ can be a misleading term as with gua, there is nothing taken from the skin’s surface. All remains intact - hooray! During treatment, Gua Sha lets blood flow within our tissue.

While working on our body, the tiny red dots confirm stagnation and restrictions within these tissues. If there is no stagnation, or that area is perfectly mobile, the surface would only turn slightly pinkish. Think of it this way, the areas during treatment that do have sha, are the restricted areas that should be worked on and need some love. The goal is to get rid of all stagnation and move freely.

Interested in learning more and how to treat yourself using Gua Sha? Visit www. peakmobilitynj.com to purchase your own Gua Sha tool or view upcoming in-person and online courses.