The Research Behind the Ritual

Ancient practices. Modern perspective. A more intentional way to care for yourself.

At SOL, we believe self-care should feel good—and that you deserve to understand why a ritual may feel good, too.

Cupping, scraping, massage, and therapeutic heat are not new ideas. These practices have been used across cultures for generations, and modern researchers continue to investigate how they may support comfort, mobility, and overall well-being.

SOL brings several of these modalities together through a modern, at-home experience—giving you the freedom to create a ritual that feels personal, intentional, and entirely your own.

Cupping: A Practice Worth Exploring

Cupping has a long history as a traditional wellness practice and has become increasingly studied within modern complementary and integrative health research.

Recent systematic reviews and meta-analyses have found evidence that cupping may help reduce pain and improve certain functional outcomes, particularly in people experiencing musculoskeletal pain. A 2024 systematic review and meta-analysis of 11 randomized trials involving 921 participants found significant improvements in pain at the 2–8 week endpoint following cupping interventions for low-back pain.

A broader 2025 systematic review examining 72 randomized trials and more than 5,700 participants similarly found potential benefits of cupping for pain-related conditions, including improvements in pain and quality-of-life measures. However, the researchers noted substantial limitations in study quality and rated much of the evidence as low or very low certainty.

In other words: the research is promising, but it is still evolving.

And that's exactly how we believe wellness research should be communicated—without exaggeration.

The Art of Gua Sha

Gua sha is a traditional scraping technique that uses a smooth-edged tool to apply controlled strokes across the skin.

Research into gua sha is smaller than the body of research surrounding cupping, but there are encouraging findings.

In one randomized controlled trial involving 50 adults with chronic low-back pain, participants receiving gua sha reported lower pain intensity and improved perceived health status compared with a waitlist control group. No serious adverse events were reported in the study.

Earlier systematic reviews, however, have emphasized that the overall evidence base for gua sha remains limited and that more rigorous research is needed.

That's why SOL doesn't position gua sha as a cure or promise a specific medical outcome.

Instead, we see it as part of a broader hands-on ritual of intentional touch, warmth, pressure, and pause.

The Role of Heat

Warmth has its own place in the research.

A systematic review and meta-analysis examining local heat applications for musculoskeletal conditions found that heat produced beneficial immediate effects for pain compared with several comparison groups, including no treatment and standard therapy.

Another systematic review of 32 randomized controlled trials found that heat therapy could reduce pain associated with delayed-onset muscle soreness, with hot-pack therapy showing particularly notable effects in the studies analyzed.

For SOL, heat isn't simply another feature on a specification sheet.

It's part of the experience.

A few minutes of warmth can transform the feeling of a routine from something functional into something restorative.

Where Technology Meets Tradition

This is where SOL comes in.

Rather than asking you to choose between traditional techniques and modern convenience, SOL brings elements of both into one thoughtfully designed experience.

Adjustable suction.

Controlled warmth.

Scraping.

Cupping.

Intuitive controls.

A ritual you can return to whenever you choose.

The research doesn't tell us that one device can do everything—or that every person will experience the same result.

And we don't believe it should.

Your body isn't a machine. Your wellness isn't a formula.

What SOL offers is a beautifully designed tool that makes it easier to create space for intentional self-care.

What the Research Says—and What It Doesn't

We believe transparency is part of luxury.

Research surrounding cupping, gua sha, and heat therapy is encouraging in several areas, particularly around pain and musculoskeletal comfort. But the quality and design of studies vary, and researchers continue to call for larger, better-controlled trials.

The existing research should therefore be viewed as evidence surrounding the individual practices—not clinical proof that SOL's specific device will produce a particular health outcome.

SOL does not diagnose, treat, or cure disease.

It is a wellness tool designed to support a personal self-care ritual.

Because Feeling Better Starts With Making Space.

Sometimes self-care looks like movement.

Sometimes it looks like rest.

Sometimes it looks like warmth, intentional touch, and ten quiet minutes with nowhere else to be.

There is no single right way to care for yourself.

There is only the decision to begin.

And maybe tonight, that begins with SOL.