Gua Sha - The Best Technique You've Never Heard Of

An example of mild sha located directly in the areas where client was feeling tightness and pain before the gua sha treatment.

Gua sha is an ancient and deceptively simple Traditional Chinese Medicine treatment that clears a variety of underlying problems in the body, seemingly by magic.

Translated, gua means to rub or scrape, and sha is the red, dotted coloring that may come to the surface of the skin during treatment. To be very clear, the coloration is the deep, extracellular fluids rising to the surface, not the breaking of blood vessels or bruising. This is a gentle treatment, therefore no bruising could actually occur, nor would we want it to. However, I do appreciate the presence of the rising coloration as validation  of suspected underlying issues, like a generalized arthritis. As interesting as it can be to watch or look at, coloration does not need to happen for healing or pain relief to take place.

The trouble I have in explaining or discussing my gua sha treatments, is the deceptively simple part: All the healing happens from just 20 to 30 gentle strokes either directly on the skin or through a sheet or clothing; this simplicity makes it difficult for people to believe. Plus, as simple as that sounds, doing it wrong could result in either injury or no benefit.

The man who taught me how to do it right is a gifted healing professional from Australia, Bruce Bentley. I recommend his essay, Gua Sha: Smoothly Scraping Out The Sha.

What strikes me most about gua sha is its ability to resolve pain and stiffness triggered by inflammation from bones and joints. In other words, it is a terrific treatment for people with arthritis.

My own theory on how such a surface treatment could impact deep tissues is about as simple as the treatment, itself. I believe in the emerging scientific theory that the connective tissue system of the body is really a multilayered, moving-scaffold-like communication organ. The unidirectional, gentle scraping sends vibrational ripples through the layers of connective tissue, amplifying like a speaker as it zooms to the deeper layers, communicating in the simple language of movement, triggering the body’s own healing mechanisms. One of those healing mechanisms may very well be the stem cells embedded in the periosteum, or outer layer of the bone, which happens to be connective tissue. Osteo fascia, if you will. What might mechanical stimulation of osteo fascia do? 

I look forward to the day fascia researchers figure out the true mechanism behind how gua sha works. In the meantime, I think of it as similar to acupuncture - it is highly effective, yet science is still baffled as to how.

Gua sha is integrated into all of my massage sessions on an as-needed basis, but is now also offered as an affordable, neck and shoulder session.