RIO DE JANEIRO — This weekend’s swimming exploits brought a new word — and somewhat of a strange concept — to the fore for many American fans: cupping.
Certainly, you might have noticed the large red circles on the body of American star Michael Phelps. Those are cup marks, a process that Dana Vollmer, who won a silver in the 4x100 relay, and a bronze in the butterfly, described as, “negative massage.” The results, a series of circular bruises, however, she described a little less technically: “It looks like we got attacked by an octopus.”
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Technically, the process is called myofascial decompression, but because it is conducted by placing suction cups on the body, it’s called cupping. The idea behind it is that the upward suction pulls up blood and loosens hardened tissue below, improving circulation and speeding recovery time for athletes.
Or something along those lines — the scientific relevance of the technique is up for debate.
“I know that it looks weird,” Vollmer said, “but it helps with blood flow, it helps pull fluid or swelling out of different areas when you are able to put this cup on and move it. It works great for a lot of us. A lot of us use it. Not all of us have quite as many cup marks as some of the swimmers we see them on. Nathan (Adrian) and Michael love it.”
If done correctly, there is virtually no pain involved.
“You have to remember, it’s superficial bruising,” said Cody Miller, who won the bronze medal in the 100-meter breastsroke. “You can get hit really hard and the bruise is not that kind of bruise. Your muscle tissue is not torn up in there. It’s pulling blood, and it just kind of sits there as that tension builds, and then you release it. It’s great.”
Now, if you’re interested in being like Phelps or Adrian, and hopping in the neighbor’s pool looking like you just walked across a driving range, don’t fret—you don’t need to visit the mountains of Tibet or a high-priced Beverly Hills therapist to do some cupping of your own. Where can you acquire these magical devices?
“Amazon,” Miller said. “Seriously, my set was $20 on Amazon. It’s pretty legit.”
“But there are classes you can take,” Vollmer said. “I think cuptherapy.com was one I heard about. There are good ways and bad ways to do it, you can hurt yourself.”
Still, after a little home training, you and your loved ones could be cupping away.
“My fiancée, Ali (Dewitt) does it to me during training,” Miller said, as Dewitt squirmed in her seat 20 feet away. “She does it to me during training. She will be like, ‘Ughhh, that’s so gross.’ But, it’s cool.”