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malaise

(267,800 posts)
Mon Aug 8, 2016, 08:05 PM Aug 2016

What 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.
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What Is Cupping and Why Is it Leaving Some Olympians With Spots? (Original Post) malaise Aug 2016 OP
Cupping mjjoe Aug 2016 #1
EXACTLY! "Yes, yes it is.... IN PRISON!" CurtEastPoint Aug 2016 #4
Last time I heard about it, the AMA came down hard scscholar Aug 2016 #2
another Facebook post trixie Aug 2016 #20
expect the return of leeches and bloodletting as fads nt msongs Aug 2016 #3
They still use leeches for reattached fingers and limbs Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin Aug 2016 #12
We use leech therapy for certain other reconstructive surgeries as well ismnotwasm Aug 2016 #32
Not to mention maggots FrodosPet Aug 2016 #31
One of my HS classmates requires regular bloodletting jmowreader Aug 2016 #38
thanks, been wondering what that was.... spanone Aug 2016 #5
Same here malaise Aug 2016 #16
It's creepy, stupid and soon everyone will be doing it BeyondGeography Aug 2016 #6
I think it works. bluedigger Aug 2016 #7
Very funny! 3catwoman3 Aug 2016 #14
You win the thread malaise Aug 2016 #15
Me too and it was then that my mother discovered that maybe I wasn't like the 'rest of the boys' as Purveyor Aug 2016 #29
You didn't comb it out!?!? bettyellen Aug 2016 #46
It's ignorant. Promoted by Gwyneth Paltrow. WinkyDink Aug 2016 #8
ya'll are showing your lack of knowledge of the world. boomer55 Aug 2016 #9
So has syphilis. AngryAmish Aug 2016 #13
Don't forget lice. lindysalsagal Aug 2016 #18
Lice has been around forever. AngryAmish Aug 2016 #21
Ha! progressoid Aug 2016 #34
Been worthless "medicine" forever too. cleanhippie Aug 2016 #17
Acupuncture is also bullshit. LeftyMom Aug 2016 #35
Ethnicity is sadly important in these discussions MattBaggins Aug 2016 #39
God, that's the truth. Marr Aug 2016 #40
I remember late 80s getting cupped before a minor surgery . When the nurses moved me to the Person 2713 Aug 2016 #36
"Alternative medicine?" stopbush Aug 2016 #10
It's a method of separating out layers of your body. Skin from underlying fat or fascia, muscle. uppityperson Aug 2016 #11
What, an informed opinion? AngryAmish Aug 2016 #19
Thanks for adding on the skin rolling. Those actually do physical things, like some types of cupping uppityperson Aug 2016 #22
Imagination is not the same as information. Act_of_Reparation Aug 2016 #55
Rubbish pseudoscience... JCMach1 Aug 2016 #23
Never underestimate the placebo effect: Proven time, and time again. lindysalsagal Aug 2016 #24
To my construction buddies, cupping is when panader0 Aug 2016 #25
ROFL malaise Aug 2016 #26
cupping edhopper Aug 2016 #27
If one feels like the cupping is beneficial then use it. I have never tried Thinkingabout Aug 2016 #28
Many insurance companies I brlieve even MedicareB in some cases will reimburse for accupuncture Person 2713 Aug 2016 #37
Were you breathing at the time? Orrex Aug 2016 #49
Are you serious? Sure I was breathing and you know this is not what I was talking about. Thinkingabout Aug 2016 #50
It was as serious a reply as chemo-phobia deserves Orrex Aug 2016 #52
BYE Thinkingabout Aug 2016 #53
Well you certainly showed me. Orrex Aug 2016 #54
The Placebo Effect is real. nt Lisa0825 Aug 2016 #30
Why is any kind of external stimulus different from doping? UTUSN Aug 2016 #33
New Age stupidity. Odin2005 Aug 2016 #41
*sigh* Yet another of my romantic notions from youth shattered... Hugin Aug 2016 #42
Cupping, Spooning - isn't that malaise Aug 2016 #45
If you insist on being clinical about it, yes. Hugin Aug 2016 #47
That time I got caught with a hicky I should've said it was cupping NightWatcher Aug 2016 #43
This thread is hilarious. CanSocDem Aug 2016 #44
Pseudomedical hickeys. That's what cupping is. MineralMan Aug 2016 #48
Jock strap too tight? JonathanRackham Aug 2016 #51
I had a pain in my side that wouldn't go away. Regulat Doctor wanted me to take pain pills. kimbutgar Aug 2016 #56
Cupping removes 100% of GMOs from the food you eat Bonx Aug 2016 #57
 

scscholar

(2,902 posts)
2. Last time I heard about it, the AMA came down hard
Mon Aug 8, 2016, 08:11 PM
Aug 2016

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)
20. another Facebook post
Mon Aug 8, 2016, 09:01 PM
Aug 2016

another job lost. I detest Facebook.


I remember cupping from the Godfather movies.

Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin

(107,063 posts)
12. They still use leeches for reattached fingers and limbs
Mon Aug 8, 2016, 08:41 PM
Aug 2016

They secrete an anticoagulant that increases blood flow.

ismnotwasm

(41,919 posts)
32. We use leech therapy for certain other reconstructive surgeries as well
Mon Aug 8, 2016, 09:53 PM
Aug 2016

When there is something called venous congestion.

Not my favorite thing.

FrodosPet

(5,169 posts)
31. Not to mention maggots
Mon Aug 8, 2016, 09:47 PM
Aug 2016
Medical Maggots™ (maggot therapy, maggot debridement therapy, MDT, biotherapy, biosurgery, biodebridement, larval therapy)

http://www.monarchlabs.com/mdt


Maggot therapy is the controlled, therapeutic use of live blow fly larvae ("maggots&quot to treat skin and soft tissue wounds.

~ snip ~

In maggot debridement therapy, germ-free ("disinfected&quot larvae of therapeutic fly species ("medical grade maggots&quot 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)
38. One of my HS classmates requires regular bloodletting
Tue Aug 9, 2016, 12:43 AM
Aug 2016

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.

bluedigger

(17,077 posts)
7. I think it works.
Mon Aug 8, 2016, 08:27 PM
Aug 2016

I know I had one of those marks on my neck once, and my performance was "awesome".

And that's a quote.

 

Purveyor

(29,876 posts)
29. Me too and it was then that my mother discovered that maybe I wasn't like the 'rest of the boys' as
Mon Aug 8, 2016, 09:46 PM
Aug 2016

the only way I could have gotten such a 'mark' overnight was by my best buddy that I had a sleepover with.



 

boomer55

(592 posts)
9. ya'll are showing your lack of knowledge of the world.
Mon Aug 8, 2016, 08:37 PM
Aug 2016

Got cupping for the first time back in 91 from my Chinese Acupuncturist. Been around for ever.

cleanhippie

(19,705 posts)
17. Been worthless "medicine" forever too.
Mon Aug 8, 2016, 08:53 PM
Aug 2016

Just because it's been around a long time doesn't make any more effective than placebo.

And that's a scientific fact.

MattBaggins

(7,894 posts)
39. Ethnicity is sadly important in these discussions
Tue Aug 9, 2016, 01:36 AM
Aug 2016

If Deepak Chopra were of Western ancestry, he would be pointed out for the idiot he actually is.

Person 2713

(3,263 posts)
36. I remember late 80s getting cupped before a minor surgery . When the nurses moved me to the
Tue Aug 9, 2016, 12:04 AM
Aug 2016

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)
10. "Alternative medicine?"
Mon Aug 8, 2016, 08:38 PM
Aug 2016

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)
11. It's a method of separating out layers of your body. Skin from underlying fat or fascia, muscle.
Mon Aug 8, 2016, 08:40 PM
Aug 2016

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)
19. What, an informed opinion?
Mon Aug 8, 2016, 08:59 PM
Aug 2016

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)
22. Thanks for adding on the skin rolling. Those actually do physical things, like some types of cupping
Mon Aug 8, 2016, 09:03 PM
Aug 2016

done properly. Doing it to make you bleed is doing harm.

Act_of_Reparation

(9,116 posts)
55. Imagination is not the same as information.
Tue Aug 9, 2016, 03:00 PM
Aug 2016

If this shit actually works, you should have no trouble demonstrating its effectiveness under controlled conditions.

JCMach1

(27,544 posts)
23. Rubbish pseudoscience...
Mon Aug 8, 2016, 09:14 PM
Aug 2016

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)
24. Never underestimate the placebo effect: Proven time, and time again.
Mon Aug 8, 2016, 09:15 PM
Aug 2016

We are so succeptible to suggestion. Any gimmick can improve your performance if you believe in it.

panader0

(25,816 posts)
25. To my construction buddies, cupping is when
Mon Aug 8, 2016, 09:32 PM
Aug 2016

you hold your junk in your hand, like when you're at the stop light and
there's nothing else to do.

Thinkingabout

(30,058 posts)
28. If one feels like the cupping is beneficial then use it. I have never tried
Mon Aug 8, 2016, 09:42 PM
Aug 2016

It but have gotten immediate relief from acupuncture and without introducing chemicals into my body.

Person 2713

(3,263 posts)
37. Many insurance companies I brlieve even MedicareB in some cases will reimburse for accupuncture
Tue Aug 9, 2016, 12:08 AM
Aug 2016

And you know how they fight paying for anything they can dispute!

Hugin

(32,778 posts)
42. *sigh* Yet another of my romantic notions from youth shattered...
Tue Aug 9, 2016, 09:23 AM
Aug 2016

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.

Hugin

(32,778 posts)
47. If you insist on being clinical about it, yes.
Tue Aug 9, 2016, 10:30 AM
Aug 2016

But, spooning doesn't always lead to coupling... Except, in rabbits.

 

CanSocDem

(3,286 posts)
44. This thread is hilarious.
Tue Aug 9, 2016, 09:40 AM
Aug 2016


The most advanced medical industry in history, being criticized by the worst.



.

MineralMan

(146,192 posts)
48. Pseudomedical hickeys. That's what cupping is.
Tue Aug 9, 2016, 10:40 AM
Aug 2016

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.

kimbutgar

(20,873 posts)
56. I had a pain in my side that wouldn't go away. Regulat Doctor wanted me to take pain pills.
Tue Aug 9, 2016, 03:03 PM
Aug 2016

I got acupuncture and cupping from a Chinese acupuncture doctor. After 3 sessions pain went away and I felt a lot better.

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