Cupping

Cupping and your Muscles

If you watched the Olympic swimming this summer you may have seen a lot of swimmers with red circular marks on their shoulders and backs and wondered what they had been doing to themselves?

The origin of these marks is the ancient Chinese therapy of Cupping. It involves the use of glass suction cups on the skin and dates back more than 1500 years in China and also adopted soon after in eastern Europe.

The cups are applied using heat or a hand pump to create a vacuum which allows the cup to suck onto the skin. Once in place the cups free up the movement of blood and fluids in the underlying muscles. The red marks appear because the skin is superficially bruised but in a non-harmful way.

Many top athletes including multiple gold medal winner Michael Phelps claim they have been using this technique for years with great success although there is no actual scientific proof that it works.

If you would like to discuss Cupping and its effects on muscles, then please contact Andy Roscoe, Acupuncturist and Director here at the clinic on 01844 215555.