Cupping is used to heal back pain, drain excess fluids and toxins, stimulate the nervous system and boost blood flow to the muscles. Phelps also posted a shot of himself on Instagram being cupped previous year.
Advertisement
In the ancient form of the therapy, believed to originate in Egypt or China, the air inside the cup is heated before being place on the skin, creating suction in that cupped area.
Therapy or not, twitter users had some fun with the cupping bruises. One involves putting heat into the cup, such as a burning cotton ball soaked in alcohol, removing it, then quickly pressing the cup onto the skin.
Phelps, who won the 19th Olympic gold medal of his career on Sunday and helped the USA men’s team to victory in the 4×100 meters freestyle relay, is one of a number of Olympic athletes practicing “cupping”, an ancient Chinese healing practice. He said the biggest benefits include increased circulation, decreased muscle tension, decreased inflammation, increased range of motion and improved blood flow. On her Instagram account, Coughlin recently shared a picture of the medieval-looking procedure with the caption: “Laughing because it hurts so bad”. Even if it does leave a mark.
“Cupping” is poised to become the latest fad.
USA stars like Michael Phelps and gymnast Alex Naddour have both been seen during competition with the marks on their bodies and it’s from cupping.
It’s not the first time cupping has made the rounds. It dates back centuries and has enjoyed a bit of a renaissance over the past decade after athletes like Phelps and National Football League star DeMarcus Ware and actresses Gwyneth Paltrow and Jennifer Aniston started touting its benefits.
U.S. swimmer Natalie Coughlan is also a fan of cupping.
She is just getting warmed up though.
Dr. Adam Perelman, executive director for Duke Integrative Medicine, told CBS News, “Cupping has probably been around as long as traditional Chinese medicine has been around – a couple thousand years”.
It’s important to note, though, that – like most Eastern medical practices – cupping therapy has its detractors.
Phelps has been using the treatment for some time.
“Reports of successful treatment with cupping are mainly anecdotal rather than from research studies”, according to the American Cancer Society as excerpted on WebMD.
Rest assured that – botched procedures aside – the treatment is not known to cause permanent harm.
Advertisement
What you’re seeing is not some freaky leopard-spot tattoo, bruises, or skin reactions to contaminants in the pool.
