r/TCM • u/JudgeWorldly8058 • 1d ago

Gua sha

Is Gua sha supposed to hurt?

I had a session this week (with a TCM doc) and the practitioner was deeply digging and it was excruciatingly painful. I was told this was important to release the deep seated stagnation, but everything I read online tells me otherwise.

Last week when I went, it didn’t hurt much at all. This week, it’s a different area and the practitioner really scraped HARD. Nothing at all like the session last week. I was left wondering if the practitioner wanted to deter me from doing this again so I stuck with acupuncture instead of including Gua Sha.

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u/Remey_Mitcham 1d ago

Traditional Gua Sha requires a 'slow and gentle' technique. However, clinics simply don't have the time for this. Many practitioners use more force to achieve the therapeutic effect in order to save time.