Facebook Instagram
Make Appointment

Gua Sha (Scrape Rash) Treatment

Gua Sha is 5000 years old!

Chinese people have been refining and improving this ancient treatment for 5000 years! It was discovered by a woman having a bath. She rubbed herself with a rock from the river she was bathing in. She realised that where she had rubbed herself felt relaxed and with good blood circulation. After that when people had a headache or a sore body or a fever they would use a ceramic spoon to scrape where the pain was until the skin was red with a rash (sha) and the pain would be gone.

Gua Sha comes from gua: scrape and sha: red rash on skin.

The sha is caused by the scraping making poisons in the body come out through the skin. When Chinese traders went around the world and felt ill they would use gua sha and the people in the countries they visited saw that it was working: people talked about it and so the practice spread. The advantage of Chinese gua sha was that it was easy and effective and could be done every day because it would just be done on a specific part of the body. Anyone could do it: young, old, male or female. There were no risks and no side effects. Gua sha was accepted by many cultures, especially in Asia: Thailand; Laos; Burma; Cambodia; India; Indonesia and Brunei. In Vietnam every family can do gua sha if someone has a headache, stomach ache, back pain or non-infectious fever before any other treatment. In Malaysia there is a gua sha school.

Why does scraping the skin make the sickness and pain go away?

Many people have been sceptical that gua sha can successfully treat pain and sickness. The theory of gua sha is that it helps balance the four elements in the body: earth, air, fire and water. It stimulates blood and qi circulation. Moreover, gua sha differs from other treatments in one important way: it can detoxify the body through the skin. The implement used for scraping has to be of a yin material, e.g. ceramic, bone, horn or rock.

Gua sha helps balance the four elements.

Eastern people believe that the human body is made of earth, air, fire and water and each element has to be in balance. If one element is in excess it will cause illness, for example, a twisted ankle will swell and have a ductile feel because of an excess of air stuck in the damaged area. Scraping will help the air to come out and be replaced by fire, meaning an improvement in blood circulation and the swelling will go down and the pain will go away. Normally, when the body wishes to wash out toxins, it makes more water to flush it out. For example, if somebody is intolerant to milk, their body will make more water to get rid of it. Or if somebody breathes in dust their nose will become runny to wash it out. When there is an excess of water in part of the body, that part will be cold. When we scrape around the nose we make fire, meaning we improve blood circulation and we can breathe better.

Gua Sha stimulates blood and Qi circulation.

As well as balancing the four elements, gua sha can help to clean the arteries. Scraping can help to shift a blockage in an artery, thus improving blood circulation. Scraping also helps muscles, ligaments and nerves too. After gua sha, tight muscles around nerves will loosen and will stop constricting the nerve. Gua sha also helps with knotted muscles. Continuing treatments with gua sha will gradually reduce pain and increase relaxation levels. The most important difference between gua sha and other treatments is that gua sha can scrape away poisons in the body. This poison arises because of an unhealthy lifestyle (Like drinking too much alcohol, smoking, eating unhealthy food, drinking unclean water, stress, pollution etc.) When this poison enters our body it circulates in our blood. The red blood cells that carry oxygen and nutrition to our cells and tissues will therefore carry these poisons into the cells and tissues. Usually our bodies get rid of these poisons through bowel motions, urination and perspiration. Old red blood cells carrying poison are removed by the spleen but some of the poison remains in cells, tissues, skin and organs. If these poisons build up in the body they will cause sickness. Gua sha can help the poison come out of the skin through the same pores as perspiration. The body will then recover and become healthy again.

The secret of the red rash

What is the sha or ‘red rash’ that appears on the skin? Is it a real poison? Our bone marrow is like a red blood cell factory. The life of a red blood cell is 120 days. At the end of its life a red blood cell will be removed by the spleen. When something unusual happens to our body, for example we carry an unusually heavy bag, it affects our blood circulation because the blood vessel get squeezed, and as a result, some dead red blood cells can’t get to the spleen and end up inside the skin. Dead red blood cells are like food past its sell-by date and are poisonous to our bodies. If they build up in the body we get sick. Gua sha forces them to be perspired out of the pores of the skin and they then evaporate away. The red sha goes away within 3-5 days. For healthy people, sha will be a pinky-red colour. If the blood is acidic because of too much poison in the body, the sha will be dark red or purple. Without treatment, blood will become more acidic, and sha will be black.

You don’t have to be ill to use gua sha.

Gua sha is good both in sickness and in health because:
  1. it stimulates your metabolism
  2. it improves your blood circulation
  3. it stimulates your cell activity, increases oxygen transport to cells and forces poisons in your body to come out through the skin pores
  4. it supports the immune system
  5. it helps to diagnose disease
  6. it helps to relax the muscles and ligaments
  7. it slows the aging of the cells and keeps skin firm

Guidelines for before using whole body gua sha

  • You should not be hungry before gua sha
  • You should tell the practitioner to avoid any parts of your body that are injured or where you have had surgery.
o Polly Mitrakul B.Med 27/09/2012      

Share now :

Facebook-f Instagram Linkedin-in

Leave Comment

Monica

I am originally from Hebei province in China. I hold a NZ bachelor’s degree of health and science with a major in acupuncture. I am honoured to be an acupuncturist at Centre of Balance. Helping patients to alleviate their pain brings me the greatest joy. Chinese medicine emphasises the unity of human beings and nature. During the treatment, I hope to not only relieve your pain but also help you to understand the principles behind acupuncture’s effectiveness, as well as the significant impact of diet, emotions, lifestyle habits, and living environments on disease recovery. Self-healing is an ability that our bodies are naturally endowed with.

I studied acupuncture in New Zealand and completed one and a half years of supervised clinical internship before graduating. In the early stage of my training, I mainly worked with patients experiencing neck, shoulder, and lower back pain. Under the guidance of senior clinical tutors, I gradually developed hands-on experience and confidence in treating musculoskeletal pain conditions.
As my clinical exposure expanded, I began treating a wider range of internal conditions. Alongside traditional acupuncture, I was introduced to Umbilical Acupuncture and Tungs-acupuncture Points. What interested me most about these approaches is that they often do not require needling directly at the painful area, yet can still achieve very effective results.
I was especially inspired by observing my supervisor use Umbilical Acupuncture to treat common conditions such as insomnia, menstrual irregularities, and even rheumatoid arthritis, with very positive outcomes. Another supervisor was highly skilled in Tungs-acupuncture Points and achieved excellent results in treating pain, infertility, menstrual disorders, and a variety of women’s health conditions. After completing my studies and entering clinical practice, once I observed Dr. Szenan Phua using Tungs-acupuncture points to help cancer patients relieve pain, which further strengthened my trust in this treatment method.
I later completed training in Dr. Tan Balance Acupuncture, which had a strong influence on the way I approach treatment. One of the most noticeable features of this method is how quickly patients often feel improvement, especially with pain conditions. Dr. Szenan Phua’s New Balance Acupuncture combines meridian regulation with structural adjustment and internal organ balancing, including techniques such as pulse balancing and spinal adjustment.
From my clinical experience, pain is rarely just a local issue. It often involves underlying organ weakness or structural imbalance. When these aspects are addressed together, treatment can be more thorough and longer-lasting. I also apply this approach to internal conditions, particularly in fertility and women’s health. This includes supporting natural conception, IVF preparation and embryo transfer, pregnancy support, early-pregnancy nausea, and late-pregnancy labour induction. I combine these treatments with concepts learned from a few additional fertility training, which has given me a broader and more flexible clinical perspective. This has reinforced my belief that acupuncture should be adapted to each individual rather than applied through fixed formulas.
Two other areas of study that have been very helpful in my clinical work are Tongue Diagnosis and Dr. Zhu’s Scalp Acupuncture. Although tongue diagnosis is taught in my standard Chinese medicine training, further study allowed me to deepen and refine my diagnostic skills.
My first formal training was in Li’s Tongue Diagnosis, which looks not only at organ patterns, but also at how different areas of the tongue reflect the body’s structure. This system also explores personality traits and changes during pregnancy, making it both clinically useful and engaging. I later attended online lectures on Yin’s Tongue Diagnosis and studied the related materials independently. this learning has helped me make clearer and more accurate pattern differentiation, allowing my acupuncture treatments to be more targeted. It covers a wide range of conditions, including skin disorders, oncology-related presentations, mental health patterns, and joint or limb problems. In practice, tongue observation often provides valuable insight even before a patient begins describing their symptoms.
In addition to the methods above, I regularly use local bloodletting techniques, which can be very effective for improving circulation, reducing swelling, and relieving pain. I also incorporate auricular (ear) acupressure and stimulation, which I commonly use for allergies, insomnia, headaches, stress management, and various internal conditions.
In my clinical work, I value taking the time to listen carefully to each patient and to understand their overall health, lifestyle, and concerns. Based on each individual’s condition, I also provide personalised dietary guidance and lifestyle or wellness advice to support overall health and long-term wellbeing. I commonly support patients with musculoskeletal pain, such as neck, shoulder, knee, and back pain, as well as stress-related conditions, sleep issues, migraines, digestive concerns, and women’s health and fertility-related conditions.