Services
Traditional Chinese herbal medicine and acupuncture for patients in Bellevue, Seattle, & Seattle’s Eastside..
Chinese Gua Sha Therapy
Licensed Bellevue acupuncturist, Dr. Weiqun Miao, provides the traditional Chinese acupuncture treatment Gua Sha for patients in Bellevue, Seattle, & Seattle’s Eastside.
Gua sha, literally means “to scrape away the fever” in Chinese, it is a holistic, healing technique widely used in Asia by both lay people and practitioners of traditional medicine, in both the clinical setting and in homes, but it is little known in the West.
Gua sha involves repeated pressured strokes over lubricated skin with a round-edged and smooth instrument. In my Bellevue acupuncture clinic, I use water buffalo horns and ceramic Chinese soup spoons for this holistic therapy.
Gua Sha Benefits
Gua sha is used to remove blood stasis and helps to promote normal blood and qi circulation which improves metabolic processes. The patient experiences immediate relief from pain, stiffness, fever, chill, cough, nausea, and so on. Gua sha is valuable in the prevention and treatment of acute infectious illness, upper respiratory and digestive problems, and many other acute or chronic disorders.
Qua Sha Treatment
The smooth edge is placed against the pre-oiled skin surface, pressed down firmly, and then moved down the muscles or along the pathway of the acupuncture meridians, which results in the appearance of small petechiae called ‘sha’, that will fade in 2 to 3 days.
The color of sha varies according to the severity of the patient’s blood stasis, which may correlate with the nature, severity and type of their disorder, appearing from a dark blue-black to a light pink color, but is most often a shade of red.
Before gua sha is given, the procedure and its effects are discussed, and your permission is asked for before treatment.