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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsWhat Is Cupping and Why Is it Leaving Some Olympians With Spots?
http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/2016-rio-summer-olympics/what-cupping-why-it-leaving-some-olympians-spots-n625336<snip>
[Cupping: The Healing Technique Leaving Its Mark on Olympians]
Cupping: The Healing Technique Leaving Its Mark on Olympians 1:23
Why are some Olympic athletes sporting large purple spots?
The circles appearing on the arms, legs and backs of U.S. athletes like Michael Phelps, Natalie Coughlin and Alex Naddour result from a practice called cupping.
If you haven't heard of it, that's not because the practice is new it's actually ancient. Cupping is one of the oldest forms of Chinese medicine, dating back to the fourth century, according to Acupuncture Today, a newspaper about alternative medicine.
Standard cupping involves a glass cup and a flammable substance which heats the cup while it's on the skin. When the flame goes out, suction is created.
TODAY: What's with Michael Phelps' mysterious bruises?
In more modern cupping, called "air" cupping, a suction pump is attached to the cup, creating the vacuum-type pull on the skin, according to Acupuncture Today. Sometimes the skin is punctured before air cupping to draw out a small amount of blood. That's known as "wet cupping."
Based on photos posted by some Olympic athletes, they are practicing dry, air cupping, which causes surface capillaries to break, creating the purple bruise-like spots.
Makes me think of this:
CurtEastPoint
(18,549 posts)scscholar
(2,902 posts)My friend lost his Facebook account over it, and he worked for a company that made Facebook games so he was fired.
trixie
(867 posts)another job lost. I detest Facebook.
I remember cupping from the Godfather movies.
msongs
(67,193 posts)Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin
(107,063 posts)They secrete an anticoagulant that increases blood flow.
ismnotwasm
(41,919 posts)When there is something called venous congestion.
Not my favorite thing.
FrodosPet
(5,169 posts)http://www.monarchlabs.com/mdt
Maggot therapy is the controlled, therapeutic use of live blow fly larvae ("maggots" to treat skin and soft tissue wounds.
~ snip ~
In maggot debridement therapy, germ-free ("disinfected" larvae of therapeutic fly species ("medical grade maggots" are used to treat and manage wounds in a procedure known as "maggot therapy." The maggots are applied to the wound for 2 or 3 days within special dressings to keep the maggots from migrating. Since medicinal maggots can not dissolve or feed on healthy tissue, their natural instinct is to crawl elsewhere as soon as the wounds are clean, or the larvae are satiated.
The scientific literature identifies three primary actions of medical grade maggots on wounds:
- They debride (clean) the wound by dissolving dead and infected tissue with their proteolytic, digestive enzymes;
- They disinfect the wound (kill bacteria) by secreting antimicrobial molecules, by ingesting and killing microbes within their gut, and by dissolving biofilm;
- They stimulate the growth of healthy tissue.
~ snip ~
jmowreader
(50,447 posts)There's a rare condition that causes you to make too many corpuscles. The treatment is to get drained every few weeks.
Leeches, as others have said, are now a useful treatment - it's called "hirudotherapy" and it works great IF you have one of the conditions it responds to.
spanone
(135,632 posts)many answered questions...
malaise
(267,800 posts)More woo!
BeyondGeography
(39,278 posts)bluedigger
(17,077 posts)I know I had one of those marks on my neck once, and my performance was "awesome".
And that's a quote.
3catwoman3
(23,812 posts)Took me a moment.
malaise
(267,800 posts)Bwaaaaaaaaaaaaaah hahahahah
Purveyor
(29,876 posts)the only way I could have gotten such a 'mark' overnight was by my best buddy that I had a sleepover with.
bettyellen
(47,209 posts)Ahhh good times!
WinkyDink
(51,311 posts)boomer55
(592 posts)Got cupping for the first time back in 91 from my Chinese Acupuncturist. Been around for ever.
AngryAmish
(25,704 posts)Don't want either.
lindysalsagal
(20,440 posts)It never gets old.
AngryAmish
(25,704 posts)progressoid
(49,825 posts)cleanhippie
(19,705 posts)Just because it's been around a long time doesn't make any more effective than placebo.
And that's a scientific fact.
LeftyMom
(49,212 posts)Not sure why the ethnicity of your acupuncturist is relevant.
MattBaggins
(7,894 posts)If Deepak Chopra were of Western ancestry, he would be pointed out for the idiot he actually is.
Marr
(20,317 posts)A conman *and* an idiot.
Person 2713
(3,263 posts)table and my backside was exposed they all gasped and one asked what is that??
I just sad it is nothing bad and doesn't hurt
I love the smell of moxa
stopbush
(24,376 posts)Medicine either works or it doesn't. If it can't be scientifically proven to work, then at best it's the placebo effect.
uppityperson
(115,674 posts)Drawing out blood is stupid, serves no purpose but the "oooooo" factor, as is the "chi" crap. Used correctly, it can be used with massage, but for accupressure, "chi" whateverness, removal of "toxins"? big eyeroll.
AngryAmish
(25,704 posts)There is no room on DU for such things.
An ex was a massage therapist, a very good one. The pain relieving quality of therapeutic massage is huge, especially for athletes. "Working out the knots" works. The best massage of my life was a large German woman at the American Club after 36 at Black wolf Run.
Anyway, the skin rolling works. Cupping kinda does the same thing as you say. It hurts so, so good. It releases so many endorphins one feels high after. Then a quart of water and nine hours of sleep.
uppityperson
(115,674 posts)done properly. Doing it to make you bleed is doing harm.
Act_of_Reparation
(9,116 posts)If this shit actually works, you should have no trouble demonstrating its effectiveness under controlled conditions.
JCMach1
(27,544 posts)I tried this JUNK (I don't use the term lightly)... all it does it make you look like you have been getting hickies from a vacuum cleaner. It's about 1000x less legit than accupuncture.
lindysalsagal
(20,440 posts)We are so succeptible to suggestion. Any gimmick can improve your performance if you believe in it.
panader0
(25,816 posts)you hold your junk in your hand, like when you're at the stop light and
there's nothing else to do.
That is not going on at the Olympics - to the best of my knowledge
edhopper
(33,188 posts)Thinkingabout
(30,058 posts)It but have gotten immediate relief from acupuncture and without introducing chemicals into my body.
Person 2713
(3,263 posts)And you know how they fight paying for anything they can dispute!
Orrex
(63,084 posts)Then you were introducing chemicals into your body.
Thinkingabout
(30,058 posts)Orrex
(63,084 posts)Orrex
(63,084 posts)Lisa0825
(14,487 posts)UTUSN
(70,496 posts)Odin2005
(53,521 posts)Hugin
(32,778 posts)I always thought "cupping" was when you snuggled up with your sweetie.
:sniff: Now, I suppose someone is going to tell me "spooning" isn't what I thought it was, too.
malaise
(267,800 posts)Coupling?
Hugin
(32,778 posts)But, spooning doesn't always lead to coupling... Except, in rabbits.
NightWatcher
(39,343 posts)CanSocDem
(3,286 posts)The most advanced medical industry in history, being criticized by the worst.
.
MineralMan
(146,192 posts)If it makes you feel better, there's no harm in it, I suppose. Real life hickeys can be somewhat embarrassing, though, as I learned one time in high school.
JonathanRackham
(1,604 posts)kimbutgar
(20,873 posts)I got acupuncture and cupping from a Chinese acupuncture doctor. After 3 sessions pain went away and I felt a lot better.
Bonx
(2,039 posts)50% of the time.