An alternative Chinese medicine clinic uses bamboo instead of glass cups for cupping therapy.

Footage shows the spa therapist heating the inside of bamboo cups with flaming cotton before they were placed on a customer's skin at The Neighbourhood Clinic in Bangkok.

The unusual ventosa treatment is believed to treat body pains and help customers relax their bodies.

The procedure involves heating the interior of the bamboo cylinders with fire before placing them on bare skin. This creates a partial vacuum inside the cups, which pulls skin and blood into the container.

According to Chinese medicine, heat dispels 'coldness' that obstructs the body's energy channels. These blockages are said to cause various diseases.

Cupping therapy is also said to help stimulate blood flow, especially around the shoulders, back, and waist.

The longer the bamboo is kept on the skin, the more intense the therapy becomes. Customers typically leave the clinic with circular red marks on their backs, which disappear on their own in about a week.

Many customers claim that using bamboo cups and fire gives the treatment a more ‘natural feel' than using glass cups and artificial suction.

Doctor Taweechai Pattiyapompoon said: ‘Cupping therapy expands the capillaries and helps with the patient's body pain.

'There is no big difference between using bamboo cups and glasses, but with bamboo, I can move them around even after putting them on the patient's skin.'