Olympic Rio seems to be the hottest topic of medias and forums at present. People keep talking about records. Magazines are updating cool moments as well as hot attendees of the games. And since 3 days ago, arguments and gossips are mostly about 22-time Olympic gold-medal winner Michael Phelps and his weird black, blue and red spots on his back. Some who don't know may think those marks are burns or bruises. Actually, they were resulted from cupping therapy, which Phelps used to release pain from his muscles.
Cupping therapy may be strange to Westerners but it has been popular throughout Asia , especially China for thousands of years. The question is whether this old technique works. Fortunately, so far there has not been a study confirming the benefit of healing sore muscles.
Cupping therapy can be performed in different ways. Traditionally, a burning cotton bud is placed inside a glass cup, which creates a vacuum inside as the hot air cools. The cups can also be attached to a pump that creates suction. Red, swollen welts appear where the cups were placed. The technique is believed to mobilize blood flow to the skin, which creates a mild immune response and helps release the pain.
A recent single-blind study was carried out to figure out how well cupping therapy worked to treat self-reported neck and shoulder pain. There were 60 patients involved. Half of them received cupping technique (they knew nothing about the treatment), while the other half got no treatment at all. As a result, attendees who underwent cupping did report a significant improvement in pain compared to those who didn’t.
“But that could have been the placebo effect,” scientists said. While 30 people knew for sure that they were getting a treatment, the rest were aware of the situation that nothing were done to ease their pain. To be specific, it was all about psychology. If it had not been cupping therapy, if Phelps went under another treatment, he might still feel better.
During Olympic Rio, it is not difficult to see athletes with red, swollen welts. Like Michael Phelps, they used cupping therapy with hopes that they could perform the best of them after having their pain eased. Not to mention how well this technique works scientifically, it is obvious that psychological effects are helpful enough on the way to medals. Once athletes believe they are supported by something powerful, they have more confidence to reach their goals.