There’s no evidence cupping works; why is it so popular?

Olympic athletes have been seen with circular, painful looking bruises on their skin which are the result of a special therapy procedure called “cupping”.

The process is believed to relieve sore muscles and mobilize blood flow to the skin, which creates “a mild immune response”, by using cups that provide a sort of suction by way of flame or a suction valve, wherein the air inside the cups are burned off by using flame. Hippocrates, a Greek physician also used this technique c. 400 BC to treat internal disease and some structural problems.

Cupping has been used in China for thousands of years, but it’s getting a lot of attention this week, because of the Olympic athletes who are using it.

Harris says more customers have been inquiring about massage cupping since the Olympics.

Roscommon-born Tom Shanahan, who has a Professorship from Guangzhou University of Chinese Medicine and is the founder of the Irish College of TCM (ICTCM), agrees.

The Ebers Papyrus, one of the oldest medical texts in the Western world, notes the use of cupping by Egyptians in 1550 BC. “And there is a huge demand for these modalities”.

Swimming champion Michael Phelps’ use of cupping, a type of alternative medicine meant to ease muscle pain, has attracted almost as much attention as his latest gold medal. Individual cupping treatments may range from $20 to $50, but could run more than $80 per session in combination with other treatments. If someone has low back pain, I might be doing some stuff on their hips and their glutes as well as their low back. This vacuum is created with either heat (fire) or suction. “The Chinese typically use bamboo”, explains Shanahan. Nowadays, plastic and glass are often used. They don’t heat the cups but use a silicone cup that draws up the skin from the fascia, connective tissue that wraps around muscles.

The healing technique aims to reduce stiffness, ease muscle cramps and remove scar tissue, according to Jill Blakeway, doctor of acupuncture and Chinese medicine and founder of The YinOva Center in NY.

Cupping is a technique that involves placing hot small glass cups on the skin, then pulling them from the body. They want to ease the pain of overexertion and, because of the doping regulations, they have to be careful with many types of medicines. This can run the spectrum from rosy pink to red to dark red to purple – even to aubergine. “That’ll be there for a few days”.

Clemmie Moddie of the Daily Mirror tries cupping in her bid to be like Gwyneth Paltrow Where can I go for cupping in Liverpool? Although it’s hard to provide a placebo treatment, the study authors note that it is possible and that better research needs to be done before anyone can conclude that cupping works. “It affects the skin and the muscles. For example, it’s an ideal treatment for a stiff neck in the morning, but not whiplash”.

The researchers determined that for some conditions, cupping appears to have some benefit.

But does it actually work?