What is Cupping Therapy? | Cupping Therapy for Cyclists – Bicycling

Cupping exploded into the athletic world after Michael Phelps debuted a back dotted with circular bruises at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, where he medaled six times. This alternative treatment certainly hasnt been limited to Olympians, though: NBA stars like Russell Westbrook, MLB players like Bryce Harper, and even celebs like The Rock are fans. Dont think it hasnt infiltrated cycling, either: Four-time Tour de France winner Chris Froome once posted a photo from a physiotherapy session, which included cupping.

These athletes havent discovered some groundbreaking new recovery modality. Cupping dates back over 4,000 years, says Tom Ingegno, a doctor of acupuncture and Chinese medicine and owner of Charm City Integrative Health in Baltimore, Maryland.

We aren't exactly sure who invented it, but the oldest known reference, in 1550 BC, is in a papyrus from ancient Egypt, and it was discussed in the Persian text The Cannon of Medicine (Al-Qanun fi al-Tibb) dating back to 1025 BC. Traditionally it was used to treat a wide variety of issueslike pain, dizziness, digestive disorders, and menstrual issues, which were thought to be symptoms of blood stagnationand modern research shows that many of these claims hold true, Ingegno says.

Considering cupping? Heres what the experts have to say about how it works and who can benefit.

Cupping is known for the marks it leaves on skinmarks that come from applying some kind of dome (whether thats made from glass or silicone or plastic) to the body, before using flames or a manual hand pump to create negative pressure, or suction, that draws the skin upwards.

Its similar to massage and myofascial release in that its a technique to mobilize the soft tissues, however it differs from most other soft tissue mobilization techniques because the vacuum created by the cup lifts the skin and the fascia up instead of compressing the tissues, explains Karen C. Westervelt, the director of Integrative Health Education at the College of Nursing and Health Science at University of Vermont. It would be very difficult to create this same lift with your hands.

That suction causes several physiological responses. On a mechanical level, it pulls on the surface of the skin, says Ingegno. This breaks the capillaries under the skin, causing microtrauma, or a small amount of tissue damage, to the area under the cup, and sending the body into repair mode and increasing localized circulation, he explains. That pulling also creates space between the skin and the fascia and the fascia and the muscles, which allows fluid, which may have metabolic waste in it, to better flow and be picked up by the lymphatic system so it can be circulated to the core of the body for processing, Ingegno adds.

The most common sites of application are the neck, shoulders, back, calves, quads, and hamstringsthink: broad muscle groups where its easy to attach the cups, says Ingegno. You can often see athletes with circular bruises on their skin after receiving cupping therapy, says Westervelt. That occurs when a strong vacuum force is applied to the skin and the cups are left in place. But its not necessary to create the therapeutic effect of cuppingI often treat my athletes with dynamic cupping, which combines cupping with movement of the tissues under the cups and/or movement of the cups, and is far less likely to cause bruising after treatment.

Those bruises might make you think this is a painful process, but cupping creates a localized stretching sensation, says Westervelt. It may feel intense at first (and it might cause brief feelings of pain in some people), but as the skin and fascia relax and circulation increases, some people actually fall asleep.

The cups are usually left between five to 15 minutes depending on how quickly the skin darkens, says Igneno. And the mark is technically not a bruise, its called ecchymosis (reddening of the skin due to ruptured capillaries) and should not be painful. These circles usually clear up within a week depending on how much blood flow an area of the body gets.

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 byproducts of intense exercise and facilitate recovery.

A 2019 scientific review published in the Journal of Traditional and Complementary Medicine found that no single theory exists to explain the whole effects of cupping. So its possible that there may be a bit of a placebo effect at play. Cupping is a relaxing treatment modality not unlike massage and acupuncture, and some of its benefits may be a result of stress reduction that is not easily objectified or investigated, researchers wrote in a 2020 review published in the Journal of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons.

But the placebo effect can be incredibly powerful. Even when people are aware that a treatment is not real, their belief that it can heal can lead to changes in how the brain reacts to emotional information, 2020 research published in Nature determined. Case in point: A sports massage was deemed more effective in those who believed it would be effective in an older study published in The International Journal of Therapeutic Massage & Bodywork.

Cupping may be an effective option with low risk in treating nonspecific, musculoskeletal pain, the authors of the Journal of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons review published in 2020 found. Since the treatments dont take a long time, are very safe, and require little to no aftercare, cupping can be an ideal treatment for anyone who has aches and pains, says Ingegno.

And what athlete hasnt experienced some level of aches and pains during training? A lot of athletes can benefit from cupping, whether its used therapeuticallyfor example, to help with neck or back painor to enhance performance, whether youre preparing for a big event or recovering from one, says Westervelt.

It may be especially true for athletes with chronic pain from injuries or overtraining, from IT band syndrome to shin splints to sciatica. Training or competing puts strain on your body, the goal for any athlete is to be able to cultivate skill, build stamina, and strength, says Igneno. To do so, you need to prevent injury, have both active and passive recovery plans, and keep yourself healthy. Cupping therapy can help with that.

This content is created and maintained by a third party, and imported onto this page to help users provide their email addresses. You may be able to find more information about this and similar content at piano.io

Read the original:

What is Cupping Therapy? | Cupping Therapy for Cyclists - Bicycling