Spooning-Scraping (Gua Sha)

A Chinese porcelain spoon is used to stimulate the skin and underlying tissues and hence, the chi of the meridians through the acu-points. Thishelpsregulate and open the channels. The purpose of the scraping method is to draw the injury out of the body. In traditional Chinese medicinal philosophy, sha is considered to be an accumulation of heat and blood at the subcutaneous levels of the body Gua Sha breaks up solidifying waste products hiding in subcutaneous tissue, leaving these impurities in a state where excretion is via perspiration or by reintroducing them to the bloodstream for excretion by the liver and kidneys.

Gua Sha is mainly used as a form of preventive medicine or for acute conditions such as chills, fevers and the common colds as well as muscular and skeletal injuries.