How to use Gua Sha on your back?

Gua Sha is traditionally used not only in beauty treatments but also to alleviate muscle and joint pain. And what great muscle group is mainly mistreated these days? Our backs bend and bear the weight of our daily stress, bad posture, injuries, and excessive or incorrect exercising. We usually don’t even think about it until we feel the pain, the discomfort.

Purpose of Gua Sha

This traditional Chinese tool does more than just massage and relaxes your muscles. As we know, we keep much more than tension in our body; we keep stress, we accumulate toxins and knots along with our muscles. These are all symptoms that need constant attention in order to keep our bodies healthy.

The scraping or stroking technique used with the Gua Sha brings up the stagnant lymph and blood to the surface of the skin. This helps the body more efficiently clear cellular waste and promote the production of new cells. It stimulates the immune system, and of course, it helps with the tension in your muscles, joints, and ligaments. Another thing to note is that ligaments do not get as much blood flow as the muscles, so massaging these areas really helps restore and nurture this area.

 

Gua Sha tools

Traditional practitioners use stones such as jade, rose quartz, or bian stone because they consider these to have healing properties. While these are the most popular, you will find Gua Sha in a variety of materials, including medical grade stainless steel.

If you are looking for a Gua Sha for body and back massage, it’s best to consider size, weight, and shape. While bigger sizes are best, the weight can depend on the practitioner and the needs of the patient. But usually thicker tools are also recommended for the back, as these muscles can really use more work.

When it comes to shape, it’s best to choose one that has more curves and edges. A wide and simple tool is great for wider areas such as legs and back, but it won’t be as effective in working details such as the area around your shoulder blades.

 

Technique

• Warm-up the body first to loosen the fascia. Cold tenses up your muscles, so it’s very important that this is the first step before starting the Gua Sha scraping.
• Apply oil to the skin, massaging it slowly to make sure there is some initial absorption.
• Begin using long strokes along the back and then focus on each area by using short repetitive strokes.
• In the case of neck pain, you can start by massaging the neck firs.
• Pay close attention to the spine area and try to scrape around it.
• If you feel knots, you can massage that area more to help break these tension spots.
• Focus on the area around the shoulder blades, you can use the curves and edges of the tool to really target these muscles.

 

After the treatment, moisturize the area and give it a final light massage to make sure it is properly hydrated. Internal hydration is also recommended, but it’s important that the drinks are room temperature. And lastly, always remember to clean your tool after each session.

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