Gua sha has been used in Asia for centuries. Gua means ‘to rub’ and ‘sha’ is a term that describes the blood congestion in surface tissue in areas where the patient may experience stiffness and pain; sha is also the term for the little red dots that are raised from applying gua sha (Nielsen 2012).

Some examples of research:

It causes a four-fold increase in microcirculation of surface tissue (Nielsen et al. 2007)
It can reduce inflammation and stimulate the immune system (Braun et al. 2011; Nielsen et al. 2011)
It upregulates heme-oxygenase-1 (HO-1), which acts to reduce internal organ inflammation in cases of asthma, hepatitis and liver disease for example (Kwong et al. 2009)

In summary, gua sha may be used for any illness or condition where there is pain or discomfort, for upper respiratory and digestive issues amongst others. It is often done in combination with acupuncture where it is felt that acupuncture alone would not address the stagnation in the system.