As many of you know, Kristen has had a running injury (around her achilles) for 4 years now. Back in Texas we tried everything Western medicine/therapy had to offer… physical therapy, electro stimulation therapy, massages, cupping, strengthening exercises, rest, ice, medications, ect. You name it, we tried it – and spent our hard earned dollar paying for it. Nothing worked!!! So when Kristen met a girl who was studying to be an acupuncturist, we jumped at the chance to try it.

Unfortunately, acupuncture wasn’t helping either so the girl invited Kristen to visit her clinic where she had an internship. The clinic is run by a renowned Chinese doctor.  Kristen thought he was going to work his magic using acupuncture, however, he had a different idea.

The following pictures are pretty gross, so for those who have weak stomachs, you may want to exit this blog right now.

Yes, that is Kristen’s leg and clotted blood. This is taking cupping to a whole new level. Basically, you stick these cups on certain spots of the body and pump that green thing you see at the top of the cup (his left hand). The skin is then sucked up into the cup. You then leave the cup on for 30 minutes.

After the 30 minutes are up, the doctor took a needle and began to poke holes into her leg. We imagined this is what getting a tattoo might feel like. You then put the cup back on and repeat the entire procedure described in the last paragraph. After another 30 minutes is over, you have a bunch of nasty clotted blood, which is what you see in the above picture, as well as the next photo.

eeeeewwww!

After it was all over, her legs looked like this…

The doctor wanted Kristen to come two more times, but we decided the running injury actually wasn’t that bad 😉