Today, since I feel a little tired and ill I’ve asked Srai, the lovely lady who is taking care of us, to do me a coining massage treatment. I have to say it’s quite painful, and the flu just right now is getting worst. Well, usually the aggravation of symptoms is a good sign after non-conventional treatment.
You may know this treatment as “spooning”, “coining” or “scraping”, in chinese language is gua sha. The term gua sha comprises two characters: the first, gua, means to rub or to scrape, and the second, sha, is the name given to the distinctive type of red dotting and discolouration that appears at the skin surface during and after treatment. In khmer is called KOORS KJOLL, kjoll means wind or faint ( Boteaw translate it so.. I’m not sure 🙂 ) and koors means scraping.
Another term commonly used by the rural population in China is gua feng, meaning to “scrape out the wind”. Gua sha is performed throughout Asia, where it is especially popular in China, Taiwan, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos and Indonesia. During the Khymer Rouge (Pol Pot) Era in Cambodia (1975–79), all traditional medical treatments, as well as biomedical practices, were strictly prohibited except for gua sha. Anyone found practising any therapy besides gua sha was executed, or if lucky sent to prison.
How does it work?
A coin is repeatedly rubbed against an area of the skin, it is always moved away from the heart. Srai used Tiger Balm as a warming ointment. The goal of the oil is to irritate the skin slightly. This rubbing make the blood rise to the surface of the skin, and it will leave a mark that resembles a bruise or love bite. The areas of the body that are most frequently treated are the back and ribs.
Like other practices in Traditional Chinese Medicine, coining is designed to bring balance to the body. The Vietnamese call it cao gio) it can be literally translated as “catch the wind,” and it is designed to draw off and release excess wind in the body. Wind illness, as it is called, is believed to contribute to fevers, muscle aches, low energy, and chills.
Gua sha is also used to treat many acute and chronic health problems including colds and flu, fever, headache, indigestion, dizziness, injury, joint pain, fibromyalgia and heat exhaustion. It is also commonly performed to relax tight and aching muscles and to relieve tiredness and fatigue.
If the imbalance is mild, it is believed that the marks left after coining will be very light, while if the patient had a large excess of wind, the marks will be livid and dark. By drawing off the bad wind, coining allows the patient’s body to find a natural balance between yin and yang, resulting in a health improvement.
