What has over 20 gold medals and is covered in purple circles?
If you have been watching the 2016 Olympics at all, you probably guessed Michael Phelps, and you guessed right.
Michael Phelps, the world’s most decorated Olympian of all time, as well as many of the athletes on the US Swimming and Gymnastics teams, have been seen with large purple ‘spots’ or bruises all over their bodies during this years games.
While it may look like these bruises came from a bar fight instead of a doctor, these markings are actually the result of an ancient Chinese healing practice called ‘cupping’.
The treatment works by either a practitioner or the athlete personally placing specialized heated suction cups on the skin, particularly in areas where muscles are extremely sore or irritated. The suction from the cups pulls the skin up and away from the underlying muscles, allowing for increased blood flow. Although the suction treatment usually only lasts a few minutes or so, it is enough time to cause the capillaries that are lying just beneath the skins surface to rupture, which is what creates these iconic, circular bruises.
If this bruising method sounds oddly familiar, it is probably because it is the same process that produces a hickey!
These bruises are completely harmless, generally are not painful whatsoever, and will disappear within a few days. The markings themselves seem to be the only side effect of cupping, making it an appealing risk-free and drug-free treatment option.
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“Physiologically, cupping is thought to draw blood to the affected area, reducing soreness and speeding healing of overworked muscles. Athletes who use it swear by it, saying it keeps them injury free and speeds recovery.”
It is clear, especially by watching these 2016 Olympic games, that there are plenty of trainers, coaches, and athletes who believe in and support cupping as a viable healing treatment, however, the scientific data to back this claim up is minimal at best. There are still those who see the positive effects of cupping to be simply the result of the placebo effect as opposed to any real physiological change.
Still, placebo effects can be beneficial to the athlete in many ways. Dr. Kalichman of the Ben-Gurion University of the Negev in Israel believes the positive results of cupping are likely a combination of the placebo effect as well as some actual physiological changes. “A placebo effect is present in all treatments, and I am sure that it is substantial in the case of cupping as well…A patient can feel the treatment and has marks after it, and this can contribute to the placebo effect…[however] It may be that cupping, by causing local inflammation, triggers the immune system to product cytokines, small proteins that enhance communication between cells and help to modulate the immune response.”
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Michael Phelps and the other 2016 Olympians aren’t the only famous athletes or superstars to publically endorse cupping either. DeMarcus Ware of the Denver Broncos, Natalie Coughlin, Missy Franklin, Jennifer Aniston, and Gweneth Paltrow are just a handful of the high-profile celebs who use cupping regularly.
The coolest thing about cupping is that you can do it yourself, at home, for relatively cheap. In fact, the chiropractor for the US swim teams that works with Phelps personally has admitted that the device he uses on the athletes can be found on Amazon for a mere $30.
Article Curated from:
New York Times Health
