Who cares if Olympics swimming champion Michael Phelps partakes of the practice? So what if the arbiter of cutting-edge everything – Ms. Conscious Uncoupling herself, Gwyneth Paltrow – subscribes to it, too? Other athletes who use this technique are USA gymnast Alex Naddour and Belarusian swimmer Pavel Sankovich., who said that cupping is a great recovery tool. There’s little research to prove that healing takes place, he said. It’s from cupping therapy, which is an ancient Chinese technique that dates back thousands of years.
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Apparently, this treatment helps athletes recover faster. “It felt like a pocket of my skin was being sucked by a vacuum cleaner and pinched with an elastic band”, Mirror reporter Hannah Hope said of the treatment. “I do it regularly – sometimes three times a day, usually in conjunction with acupuncture”. (Bummer.) In fact, there isn’t much scientific evidence at all to support the claims that cupping is an effective recovery tool (although first-hand stories are compelling), Ziegelbaum points out. It wipes out stagnation of the muscle or area of concentration.
Experts agree. “Athlete or not, cupping therapy can help treat sore muscles for some, especially when used post-exercise”, says Rob Ziegelbaum, a physical therapist and clinical director of Manhattan’s Wall Street Physical Therapy who performs the therapy. No, these are not minor injuries obtained during training; they look oddly circular and are located symmetrically all over the body.
The huge skin blotches caused by cupping have been humorously described as “giant hickeys” (kiss marks) or monstrous chickenpox scars, among others.
Since then, there have been several clinical trials of cupping showing that it can work for pain, but I am not impressed.
Michael Phelps woke up on the morning of the first race of his fifth Olympic Games with some soreness in his right shoulder. The guys don’t care.
“I can feel it suck up skin when he’s sliding it”, Spartan athlete Lorenzo Vigil said.
In 2012, a review of 135 studies on cupping found it had some benefit for shingles, facial paralysis, acne and age-related wear and tear of the spinal disks of the neck.
It should also be noted that not everyone is convinced about the benefits of cupping.
So, what would Ernst say to someone who wanted his advice about receiving cupping treatments?
The cups are left on the skin for 5 to 15 minutes and the vacuum effect sucks up the skin, drawing muscle and soft tissue to the surface, as well as blood capillaries that rupture slightly. People could also develop infections from potential tissue injury if not properly administered.
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Some people undergo “wet” cupping, which involves pricking or slicing into the skin.
