Guasha is a healing technique of traditional East Asian medicine. Sometimes called ‘coining, spooning or scraping’, Guasha is defined as instrument-assisted unidirectional press-stroking of a lubricated area of the body surface to intentionally create transitory therapeutic petechiae called ‘sha’ representing extravasation of blood in the subcutis.
Guasha, meaning to "scrape away illness", involves using tools, such as these copper ones, with lubricant liniment to scrape and rub parts of the patient's skin repeatedly in one direction. The aim is to "activate blood circulation to dissipate blood stasis", based on TCM theory.
In simple terms, Guasha is applying friction to the body in order to increase circulation to the area using a Guasha tool.