As the 2016 Olympics are underway in Rio, American athletes are sporting more than just gold medals. As Michael Phelps won his 21st gold medal, viewers wondered what were those round purple marks covering his entire back and right shoulder. The answer to that is cupping: an ancient Chinese medicine practice.
The therapy can be done by placing specialized round cups to the area of soreness. They then apply either heat or use a air suction pump. This pulls the skin up and away from the muscles. The sucking causes small blood vessels under the skin to break resulting in this cup-shaped bruise to form.
Supporters of cupping therapy believe the suction of the cups mobilizes blood flow underneath the skin, thus promoting the healing of a broad range of medical ailments.
"I've done it before meets, pretty much every meet I go to. So I asked for a little cupping yesterday because I was sore and the trainer hit me pretty hard and left a couple bruises," Phelps jokes.
Although cupping marks have been more noticeably seen on Phelps, the ailments go past helping soreness for swimming. The marks have also been spotted on American gymnast Alex Naddour, and US goalie Hope Solo.
Naddour had bought a DIY cupping kit just off of Amazon for only $15. He even called it his "secret" to staying healthy. "It's been better than any money I've spent on anything else," states Naddour.
Other gymnasts on the American men’s team in addition to Naddour have found cupping provides relief from the soreness and pounding that come from gymnastics.
After history of shoulder pain from severe shoulder injury, it's no wonder why goalie Solo is also joining swimmers and gymnasts in this trend. Solo was seen spotting a similar cupping mark during the US match against Colombia.
Solo also recently tweeted a photo of the treatment with seven suction cups covering her shoulder and upper back calling cupping her "favorite kind of treatment."
While these athletes swear by the treatment, Naddour commenting, "It has saved me from a lot of pain," not everyone is buying it.
Director of Indiana University Center for Global Health Dr. Vreeman points out that there's little research behind it: "There are no health benefits to cupping documented in the scientific literature," she says. "The only study I have seen ... with any impact related to cupping is one that rigorously examined various therapies for back pain, and suggested that any impact from cupping was likely related to a placebo effect."
Whether cupping is just a placebo effect or not, the US athletes have been dominating the Olympics thus far. The women's team won first in it's group early on and Phelps is adding to his overall medals and has won races in both the finals and preliminaries. Due to the recent phenomenon of cupping, Phelps has been doing more than just sleeping on all of those medals.
