With our recent launch of the 30-piece Meridius Cupping Set, there’s now even more choice when it comes to professional cupping sets. Should you buy cups individually? Should you start out with a small set or go big from the off?
The cupping industry in the West is rapidly expanding and our Meridius cupping sets are one of our most popular products so we’re thrilled to introduce our improved, 30-piece set. To ensure you pick the best cups for your practice, in this blog, we’ll be looking at how to choose your cupping equipment.
Things to Consider
Before you choose the cupping equipment for your practice, here’s a list of things to consider:
- Type of Cupping: will you be offering fire cupping or suction cupping? Will you need to travel with your cups or will they always stay in your clinic?
- Practice Regularity: are you adding cupping into practice as a side service or will you be mainly practising cupping? How often will you use your cups?
- Patient Type: will you be treating vulnerable adults and children? Or, are you working on athletes or amateur sportspeople?
- Hygiene: will you easily be able to sterilise your cups or are going heading out into the field where sterilisation is challenging?
Type of Cupping
To create the required vacuum, traditional cupping practice involved a flame. By heating the air inside the cup before placing it onto the skin, you could ensure a vacuum as the air cools. If you’re a traditional practitioner, this might be your favoured method. Alternatively, some traditional cupping practitioners use bamboo cups which are placed in hot water before applying to skin, creating the same effect.
If these are the cupping methods you use, you’ll need to opt for cups designed for heat. An example is our fire cupping jar.
The most popular type of cupping practised in the UK is suction cupping. This type of cupping typically uses a suction pump attached to a valve at the top of each cup, allowing you to finely tune the level of suction you want. Other suction cups are made from silicone, so you can squeeze them, apply to skin and release the silicone, creating a vacuum.
These cups are widely available and can even come with magnetic polarisation.
Practice Regularity
If you’ll be practising cupping as a major part of your service offering, you’ll likely need a wide range of cups so you’re always prepared. You might need multiple sets, allowing for back-to-back appointments when there’s no time for sterilisation in between.
On the other hand, if you use the odd cup here and there to complement your other services, a curated selection of silicone cups might be just what you need; cups that are quick and easy to use around acupuncture needles or massage.
The benefit of buying singular cups is that you can add to your collection in stages to meet the demands of your patients without investing in a large number of cups that you rarely use.
Patient Type
You might prefer the traditional form of cupping but if your patients are primarily children, young adults or vulnerable adults, fire cupping is likely out of the question. With these patient types, squeezy silicone cups could be your best option or suction cups with a hand pump.
No matter what, having a range of options allows you to offer different cupping methods to your patients. This helps respect their preference and individuality.
Hygiene
All cups need to be sterilised before re-use with the exception of disposable cups. For clinic use, having cups which are easy to sterilise is important and most cups fall within this category. For those which have rubber valves, check you can remove the valves. If you do occasional field work, large sets like our new 30-piece set allow for multiple cupping treatments of a few cups each, negating the need for sterilisation then and there; alternatively, disposable cups can be used although should be minimised to prevent plastic waste.
Meridius Cupping Set Size Options
You can buy our Meridius cups individually or choose from a 10-piece cupping set, a 17-piece cupping set or our new 30-piece cupping set. Each comes with a suction pump, an extension tube and a secure carry and storage case. These sets are fantastic for any level of cupping practitioner. The cups are made from polycarbonate: easy to sterilise and shatter-proof.
