Читать книгу The Art of Cupping - Hedwig Manz - Страница 10

More recently, the British neurologist Henry Head (1861–1940) also observed this phenomenon and discovered that reflex paths exist between the body’s surface (skin) and the viscera. He realized, for example, that patients with gallbladder disorders tend to be particularly sensitive to pain at the costal arches and at certain regions on the back. Kidney patients experience skin and muscle pain in the lower back on the affected side or frontally in the area around the bladder. Henry Head discovered that the painful and hypersensitive skin areas almost always lie on the same side of the body as the diseased organ. In addition, he observed that other diseases of viscera also resulted in elevated skin temperature or pain, but also disturbed blood circulation in the corresponding parts of the body’s surface (often far away from the affected organ). These suggest neural interactions between the viscera and the corresponding body surface.

Head’s research supplied the confirmation and therefore the scientific basis for the ancient experience of folk healing that the reflex connections from the body’s surface to the diseased organ can be utilized to have a curative effect on viscera. This has been corroborated by other researchers, such as Mackenzie (myogelosis), Vogler, Krauss (osteovisceral reflex paths), Preusser, Kötschau (gelosis), Hansen and von Staa (muscle reflexes), Pischinger, Kellner, Heine, Bergsam (processes in the vegetative nervous system), and others.

The investigations of Head and other well-known scientists finally explained and proved the way in which segmental cupping therapy and cupping diagnosis work. In segmental therapy, the skin plays the key role. It has specific relationships to the centers of the nervous system.

Note

The skin surface is divided into segments, so to speak, corresponding to the entrance and exit levels of the individual spinal roots in the spinal cord.

The spinal fibers pair up into spinal nerves (spinal column nerves) on the right and left between two vertebrae where they exit from the spinal cord. Since they supply strip-shaped areas of the skin, segmentation arises, which are called segments or dermatomes. These dermatomes are highly important also for the segmental diagnosis of spinal cord damage.

Note

In relation to the location where the nerves exit the spinal column, these segments are divided into:

C = area of the cervical vertebrae

T = area of the thoracic vertebrae

L = area of the lumbar vertebrae

S = area of the sacrum

Note

Every skin segment at the same time also has neural connections to certain viscera in the thoracic, abdominal, and sacral space. Biological functional circles (stimulatory circles) of the nervous system are in charge of the connections. These circles build a bridge between skin, central organs of the nervous system, and viscera. We now know these connections as so-called “cutivisceral/viscerocutaneous” reflex tracts (▶ Fig. 3.1).

The diseased organ sends stimuli via the vegetative nerves to the corresponding skin areas, which can respond with tension, pressure points, swelling, atrophy of connective tissue, or chronic pain. These painful, hypersensitive, or changed skin areas are referred to as “Head’s zones.”

Each organ is represented in one zone (▶ Table 3.1).

Note

Head’s zones are of practical significance for segmental therapy and diagnosis (▶ Fig. 3.2).

Fig. 3.1 Simplified illustration of the cutivisceral reflex paths. (From: Faller A, Schünke M. Der Körper des Menschen. 15th ed. Stuttgart: Thieme; 2008)

Table 3.1 Head’s zones of the organs

Organ	Zone
Heart C3–T4	→ predominantly left
Esophagus T4–T6	→ left or right
Lungs/bronchial tubes C3–T9	→ left or right
Stomach T8–T9	→ predominantly left
Small intestine C3–T10	→ right or left
Large intestine C3–T11	→ right or left
Liver/gallbladder T8–T11	→ right
Pancreas T7–T10	→ left
Spleen T11	→ left
Kidneys/ureter T8–S4	→ left or right
Bladder on both sides T10–S4	→ left or right
Uterus/ovaries and testicles T10–L3	→ left or right

Fig. 3.2 Orienting illustration of the segments. (Schünke M, Schulte E, Schumacher U. Prometheus. THIEME Atlas of Anatomy. Head, Neck, and Neuroanatomy. Illustrations by M. Voll and K. Wesker. 3rd ed. Stuttgart: Thieme; 2020)

Note

Segment reactions almost always occur on the same side of the body as the diseased organ. Nevertheless, segments can also overlap, or the disease symptoms can, in longer-lasting illness, jump from one segment to another.

The cutivisceral and viscerocutaneous reflex paths (organ–spinal cord–skin connections) operate according to the principle of interaction or rather feedback mechanisms. In the same way that disease in the viscera manifests on the surface of the skin, we can also reversely transfer certain skin stimuli to the viscera.

Via these biological functional circles, we can on the one hand explain certain disease processes: frequent occurrence of angina pectoris episodes in cold weather for example (this path also functions in the harmful sense, e. g., sudden cooling off of the chest skin can cause a heart attack). On the other hand, we can also affect the viscera therapeutically. Among other things, we take advantage of this fact in the case of cupping therapy. By placing the cups on the skin, we address the receptors in the skin and cause not only an improved localized blood flow but also via the neural connections a more intensive blood flow in the viscera associated with the concerned skin area.

Note

Given the fact that cupping not only causes hyperemia, but also the formation of extravasates, the possibility of a dual therapy arises: in addition to the effect of hyperemia described above, the extravasates cause an irritation that also stimulates and accelerates the connective tissue metabolism for several days. This stimulation puts the organism in a position where it is able to restore its disturbed order through the vegetative regulatory systems.

It is not uncommon that a single or only a few cupping treatments result in the complete cure of a variety of syndromes.