i'm interesting in finding the origin of this folk medicine. Apparently this practice is very common in South East Asia, recently I just had one done on me and that was painful. Anybody can provide some info on this?

literally speaking, cao gio is scraping the wind (cambodians say the same thing--koh k'chal-->scraping the wind), but i think a more appropriate term is "coining"

it has more to do with blood circulation.

i've only had it done once or twice in my lifetime, and it's nasty painful.

That stuff really works. Helps me alot the next day. Painful, sorta, but it helps.

HAHA I once went to school with the cao gio markings on my back, and was sent to the office. They thought someone beat the $hit out of me.

yeah it does work. My teachers thought i was physically abused by my parents when the marks though.

I cant bare the pain but some people can handle it just fine.

guys have zero tolerance for pain. i did it once for my dad. after that, he never asked me to do it again.

are you guys talking about anal sex or something (???)

Only a gay guy like you would think about anal sex, when the topic doesn't even give a hint about it.

i'm just joking. it's posts like below that are kinda funny

you don't know what it is? it's the thing you do when you put icy hot on a spoon and scrape someones back in lines from the spinal cord to the side until the skin is red.

cao = scratch and gio(pronounced yaw) = wind

That $hit is painful. Xong ho*i is better.