Those Circular Bruises You Keep Seeing Online, Explained
After the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Cupping exploded in popularity when Michael Phelps stepped out on the pool deck with a back dotted with circular bruises. You may have since seen it in Instagram posts, images of someone’s back covered in red suction cup-type marks. At first glance, it looks painful, but cupping is a renowned wellness ritual that has been employed for centuries.
Cupping therapy involves placing a plastic, glass, or silicone cup onto the skin and creating suction with heat or a manual hand pump. The suction causes multiple physiological responses. It breaks the capillaries, or blood vessels, under the skin on a mechanical level. This causes microtrauma to the skin under the cup and sends the body into repair mode, increasing localized circulation. The most common application sites on the body are the neck, shoulders, back, quads, calves, and hamstrings. The cups are usually left on for 5-15 minutes, depending on how quickly the skin reacts. The cupping process sounds painful, and it might cause brief feelings of pain at the onset. Overall, it creates a localized stretching sensation, and as the skin and fascia relax and circulation increases, most people report feeling relaxed enough to fall asleep.
The practice dates back over 4’00 years, and nobody is sure who invented it. It was documented in early Egyptian and Chinese medical practices as a treatment for various ailments. The oldest known reference is in 1550 BC in a papyrus from ancient Egypt, and it was also discussed in the Persian text The Cannon of Medicine from 1025 BC.
Anyone with poor skin integrity, open wounds, suffering from cancer or diseases that compromise circulation, or are on blood thinners should not try this therapy without seeking advice from their trusted medical practitioner.
The Benefits of Cupping
To learn more about cupping and whether it might be beneficial for you to try it, check out Bicycling.com:
“‘On a mechanical level, cupping works by providing a stretch to the skin and fascia,’ says Westervelt. That just feels good. Plus, that mechanical effect was shown to increase local blood flow and stretch underlying tissue in a 2017 analysis published in Complementary Therapies in Clinical Practice. That same analysis found that the breaking of capillaries caused by cupping seems to have an anti-inflammatory and immune-stimulating effect, adds Igneno.
As a result, cupping can increase your pain threshold, reduce inflammation, improve anaerobic metabolism, and boost cellular immunity, according to a 2018 scientific review published in the Journal of Acupuncture and Meridian Studies. (That same review also determined that cupping can help with headaches, back and neck pain, hypertension, asthma, and diabetes.)
For athletes, ‘light static cupping or dynamic cupping can promote stretching of the connective tissues and increase local circulation, both of which are very helpful in recovery from exercise,’ says Westervelt. ‘It is common practice for elite athletes to use therapeutic techniques like cupping (and soft tissue massage or mobilization, pneumatic compression with vibration, contrast baths in warm and cold water, among others) to facilitate efficient metabolism of by-products of intense exercise and facilitate recovery.’”
From Everything, You Need to Know About Cupping Therapy - Bicycling
Photo Source: WIX
Have you or anyone you know ever tried Cupping therapy? If not, would you consider it?
Written by Yellow Brick Road Token
March 17th, 2022