Cupping therapy, widely recognized for alleviating back pain, can also be an effective treatment for headaches and migraines. By using gentle suction, cupping helps relieve tension, reduce nerve compression, and improve blood flow, addressing common headache triggers like muscular tension and nerve irritation. It also promotes relaxation through parasympathetic nervous system activation, making it especially beneficial for stress-induced headaches. With careful application, cupping offers a versatile, non-invasive approach to headache relief that can be tailored to individual needs.
Key Takeaways
- Cupping therapy can effectively relieve headaches by easing muscle tension, improving blood flow, and reducing nerve compression.
- Headaches caused by muscular tension, trigger points, or nerve irritation can benefit from cupping’s gentle, decompressive action, which creates space around affected tissues.
- Cupping stimulates the parasympathetic nervous system, promoting relaxation and making it particularly helpful for tension-type headaches related to stress.
- Facial and occipital cupping can specifically address headaches stemming from TMJ dysfunction and neck tension, targeting key nerves like the trigeminal and occipital nerves.
- With mindful application, cupping is a safe, versatile therapy that practitioners can customize to individual client needs, even for delicate areas like the head, face, and neck.
As cupping therapy grows in popularity with clients and bodywork practitioners, cups are becoming a more frequently valued tool when addressing clients’ needs. However, therapeutic cupping doesn’t have the same notoriety for its ability to relieve headaches the way it’s known for helping with low back pain or frozen shoulder symptoms. ¹ Headaches and migraines are one of the most common neurological conditions worldwide. In the US, 1 out of 6 people regularly suffer from headaches or migraines. The simple but powerful foundational mechanisms that cupping therapy can provide can have a compelling effect on treating this ever-so-common problem.
Take into consideration all of the nerve endings present within the head and face, their sensitivity to stimulus is only rivaled by our fingertips. This creates one of the most fascinating neuromuscular “circuit boards” with a direct line into the brain. When the brain receives pain signals from somewhere in the head itself, it can become the loudest voice in the room, leaving little space for any other information to be sent or received. The discomfort, or pain, can make it difficult to complete everyday tasks, diminishing the person’s ability to be fully present with friends or family, and can negatively impact their work productivity. Headaches manifest for many reasons, sometimes from something as straightforward as a trigger point referral or as complex as the etiology of migraines.
Specific and gentle treatments employing cups allow the practitioner to address the causative factors of headaches in a multidimensional approach. The versatility of cupping has the ability to help calm the muscular and fascial tension or trigger points that may produce headaches, but it can also broadly impact the affected neurology. Implementing cupping techniques when addressing headaches offers a compound treatment. Naturally, they provide an approach clients look forward to and that practitioners can quickly incorporate into their treatment plan and customize to their clients’ needs.
How Cupping Benefits the Neurology of Headaches
When you stub your toe, the brain can instantly recognize the pain signals being sent at the furthest point of the body. When it comes to pain in the head, face, or neck, there is no travel distance, the pain signals make their way directly to the brain. ² The greater occipital nerve and trigeminal nerve have diverse associations with the brain’s dura mater.
The trigeminal nerve is the largest of the cranial nerves, with a main function of gathering sensory information to pass to the brain as well as innervation to the muscles of mastication. It has three branches: ophthalmic, maxillary, and mandibular, and is located on the lateral aspect of the head. With our faces being in constant motion from chewing to speaking, making facial expressions or furrowing of the eyebrow from eye fatigue, there is a high possibility the nerve can become over-stimulated on some level. This can induce a headache or other type of facial pain. Facial cupping can be incredibly beneficial when working with clients who suffer from headaches associated from TMJ dysfunction. Soothing the irritated nerve endings, but also helping reduce the amount of discomfort any trigger points or tender points may cause, if present.
The occipital nerve is found on the posterior neck around the C2 and C3 vertebrae. Just as the trigeminal nerve, it also has three parts: greater occipital nerve, lesser occipital nerve, and third occipital nerve. It is responsible for sensory information throughout the occipital region and sides of the head near the ears. In cases that involve the greater occipital nerve, compression from the surrounding soft tissues and fascia can occur that will result in head pain or a headache. Hobbies or activities that require an individual to look directly down in front of them or forward head posture can often play a big role in this.
The basic function of cupping therapy is negative pressure. When working with the nerves that can be involved with headaches, this natural decompression offers numerous benefits. Paramount of these is the lifting of the tissues, this helps remove the pressure on the nerve endings either from fascia, muscles, or blood vessels helping to decrease pain signals being sent to the brain. By simply removing the compression on the nerve ending, the space that the vacuum creates allows for mobility between the tissues and increases the functional movement between the structures. For the greater occipital nerve, this can be invaluable. The ability to release the tension and compression created by the upper trapezius or the paraspinal capitis group from the greater occipital nerve can be pure bliss.
An additional benefit for the nerves is the improved blood flow that cups can naturally bring to the region. One of the ways the brain responds to the stimulation of cupping is by initiating vasodilation. This has a twofold advantage: as the nerves function and fire they will create metabolic wastes, just like our muscles, that can irritate the receptors when the local area becomes ischemic. The surge of fresh blood can remove the built-up waste products, but most important of all is the vital element of oxygen it brings. Continuous and fresh oxygen is crucial for nerves to stay healthy and function at optimal ability. In all, the vasodilation helps maintain a state of homeostasis.
Cups also offer the ability to elicit a strong response from our parasympathetic nervous system. This can have a significant impact on those suffering from tension-type headaches associated with stress and anxiety. In the past, cupping may have been more associated with vigorous, therapeutic sports-style techniques, not necessarily with relaxation. But the gentle and rhythmic movements of moving cups across the body and the lifting of tissues this modality provides can be powerful. Cups are capable of calming the central nervous system, inducing relaxation and increasing the circulation of our “feel good” hormones: serotonin, oxytocin, and dopamine. The enhanced sense of relaxation is indispensable as stress can be heightened during times of discomfort and pain.
How Cupping Addresses the Muscles and Trigger Points Associated With Headaches
Trigger point referrals can also be a common cause of headaches. It’s well known they thrive in ischemic regions or areas of excessive muscular tension. The standard forward head posture is an excellent example of this. There is a continuous tug-of-war at play here, prolonged muscular contractions from all sides creating the perfect conditions for the muscles to become laden with trigger points.
Gentle and non-aggressive cupping can shine its brightest here. The decompressive stimulus created by the negative pressure of the cup and initiation of vasodilation may reasonably encourage a chain reaction to aid in the release of trigger points. The vacuum of the cup sends signals to the mechanoreceptors that a stretch or tension is taking place in the muscles. This signal may allow for the relaxation of the tension of the muscle associated with creating the trigger point. The suboccipital group in a state of constant contracture would be thankful for releasing its heavy load by elongating its fibers. This could hopefully improve the compressed sensation the client may always feel through the atlantio-occipital joint, encouraging an increase in the range of motion through this critical junction.
The increase in blood flow from the hemodynamic shift allows the body to remove stagnant metabolic wastes and replenish, nourish, and rehydrate ischemic tissue. The expansion of the blood vessels allows for heat stuck in the tissues to escape towards the skin’s surface, allowing the body to move through its processes to decrease the residual heat of the inflamed area. Vasodilation can also facilitate the body’s natural processes of clearing inflammatory markers that may continue to irritate the muscle fibers. There is an increase in fluid movement between the cells and muscle fibers allowing the lymphatic system to come in as the body’s clean-up crew, removing any additional metabolic debris left behind. The mission is to hopefully prevent that area from staying in a state of chronic inflammation.
Treatment Considerations
Ensuring client safety is always of utmost importance. In cases with implanted devices such as deep brain stimulators or occipital nerve stimulators, the natural decompressive therapy could disconnect a lead. While cupping may not be contraindicated for the whole body, understanding where the leads and wires run can help determine if a local, regional, or absolute contraindication would apply.
Being mindful of suction pressure when working around hardware, such as fusions, is also imperative. While bodywork is needed and is beneficial, high suction pressure or aggressive treatment techniques could possibly damage the tissue around the implant. Another consideration would be if the client has recently had Botox, fillers, cortisone, or lidocaine injections in that region. If so, that area would be contraindicated for cupping therapy for at least 30 days. Those products need to stay where they were placed, cups have the possibility of moving them from their designated space.
Treating the face and neck with cups can require a very different approach than with the thicker dermis of the back, glutes, or legs. The thinner and more delicate skin of the face and neck are more susceptible to cupping marks than other areas of the body. Having the ability to increase the lighting in the treatment room allows the practitioner to monitor the skin to prevent cupping marks on the face or deep colored marks on the neck that would be less than appreciated by the client.
Cups benefit headaches regardless of their origination. The common tech-neck headache can be eased from elongated musculature, increased blood and lymph flow, as well as trigger point and tender point reduction. Tension-type headaches can be soothed from cups enhancing the clients relaxation and reducing muscle tension. Compressed or irritated nerve endings can have more breathing room due to the cups’ vacuum creating additional space in the surrounding soft tissues. This can help reduce the amount of pain input the brain receives.
Something as simple as the decompression from the negative pressure, increased blood flow from the vasodilation, to the calming effects of the nerves and nervous system; cupping has the potential to create a positive influence on all the key players involved in headaches. The addition of therapeutic cupping in treatment for headaches provides practitioners with a flexible, simple, but blended treatment, allowing clients to find relief in their frustration from their unwanted persistent companion, the headache.
About the Author
Lauren Lane is a licensed bodywork and massage therapist in South Carolina and Virginia. Licensed in 2013, she has a growing background in neuromuscular therapy, medical massage, and visceral manipulation. She is a certified Modern Cupping Therapy Practitioner and Educator, Myofascial Release Massage Practitioner, and Manual Lymphatic Drainage Therapist.
Additional References and Footnotes:
- Burch R, Rizzoli P, Loder E. “The Prevalence and Impact of Migraine and Severe Headache in the United States: Figures and Trends From Government Health Studies.” Headache.2018 Apr;58(4):496-505. doi: 10.1111/head.13281. Epub 2018 Mar 12. PMID: 29527677. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29527677/. Accessed: 11/3/23
- Rodriguez E, Sakurai K, Xu J, Chen Y, Toda K, Zhao S, Han BX, Ryu D, Yin H, Liedtke W, Wang F. “A craniofacial-specific monosynaptic circuit enables heightened affective pain.” Nat Neurosci. 2017 Dec;20(12):1734-1743. doi: 10.1038/s41593-017-0012-1. Epub 2017 Nov 13. Erratum in: Nat Neurosci. 2018 Mar 16;: PMID: 29184209; PMCID: PMC5819335. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29184209/. Accessed 11/1/23
- Gilmart, Shannon. “The Guide To Modern Cupping Therapy, Your Step-By-Step Source for Vacuum Therapy.” Robert Rose Inc, 2017; 47-54, 62-65
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