They’re swimming in it. Our Olympic champions — and they are clearly champions in the pool — are also wading through some murky alternative therapy waters.
Keen-eyed viewers will have seen the circular hickeys spotted on the chests and backs of swimmers, including Kyle Chalmers (who apparently also likes a quick nip from his pet croc to get the blood flowing). Swimmer Michael Phelps was big on it last Olympics.
It’s from cupping, a weird technique often celebrated for being “ancient” — or merely for being spotted on celebrities such as Justin Bieber, Victoria Beckham and (no surprise) Gwyneth Paltrow.
With dry cupping, you heat a cup, put it on the skin, and the flesh bulges into that cup because of the vacuum. Some use suction cups to suck the flesh in, leaving a round bruise. With wet cupping, the skin is pierced so blood flows into the chalice of choice.
Even the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health — which you’d think would look kindly on something non-mainstream — found most of the research on cupping is “of low quality” and that “cupping may help reduce pain, but the evidence for this isn’t very strong”.
It also warns that cupping can cause “persistent skin discolouration, scars, burns, infections, and may worsen eczema or psoriasis”.
Alarmingly, there have been (rare) cases of bleeding inside the skull after scalp cupping, and anaemia from blood loss if you go the wet cupping route.
A Cochrane system review found it was not supported by scientific rigorous evidence. “Cupping therapy may have benefit in treating pain-related conditions, acne and facial paralysis, however, confirmed conclusions could not be drawn due to the low quality of the original studies,” it found.
In 2017, researchers at The Alfred warned of the rare but possible dangers of accidental burns, in particular when cupping was “not performed correctly or by a registered practitioner”.
Those spruiking the benefits of getting people in their cups often rely on the fact it’s been around for ages in Egyptian, Chinese, Islamic and other traditions. To steal from Tim Minchin, “I don’t go in for ancient wisdom/I don’t believe just ‘cos ideas are tenacious it means they’re worthy”.
Maybe it’s relaxing to have blobs of your back sucked into a glass. Maybe the placebo effect helps it ease pain. Maybe it’s OK for Olympians to do absolutely anything they think might give them an edge.
But they’re also contributing to another insta-celebrity wellness scam. Health clinics all over Australia pushing the technique are bolstered by the endorsement.
Some of them claim it will help with anxiety or depression — and that’s where a seemingly harmless “natural” therapy can turn dangerous, if it diverts people from proper treatment.
A cruise through Australian organisations promoting it reveals claims it can treat colds or bronchitis — again, dangerous in the pandemic era if it diverts anyone from proper medical care. Others claim it can treat high blood pressure.
Cupping probably didn’t speed any athletes up, and it may not have slowed anyone down, but it’s yet another example of potentially dangerous woo-woo — in the flesh.
I’m with you on this one Tory. They are just hickeys without the happy ending.
Ha! I was going to say that this is a brilliant way to disguise an errant hickey from discovery by their partner!
Hi Tory
While I’m no expert, I am slightly well read on numerous topics, just above the ignorance is bliss class. However as a trained( or student of) anthropology, I thought you would have done a bit more research. From my understanding most modern cupping comes from TCM. Traditional Chinese Medicine. Now many variant aspects of physical wellbeing from this source have found it’s way into accepted practice, usually in a westernized form, especially on the physiotherapy fields.
As I understand it, cupping is usually performed on acupuncture points as related to TCM. So if you accept some validity to accupunture, accupressure, and possibly stretch the boundaries of understanding to the possibilities of energy meridians, juncture points within the physical body, then you can start to understand the validity of cupping..
Not just because this therapy has ancient roots, but to explore those roots and see they validity in other therapies being more readily accepted.
I’m not saying cupping does or doesn’t work, but you don’t seem to have researched very far other than offering your personal opinion. Is this an opinion piece or valid reporting.Has there been any enquiries to the athletes as to what they are using this technique for. What are their aims, results, justifications. What role do team doctors and physios play in this procedure. Surely in Olympic teams on the world stage no athlete would take up a therapy that was not veted and approved by the team doctors and physios. That would be for me enough to probe deeper to at least present there reasonings along with such a strong personal opinion.
Where have you been? That’s right you are not old enough to remember that elite swimmers were indulging in it under the guidance of their coaches back in the 80s. Thats 1980s as in the last Millenium for the younger ones. I’ll refrain from mentioning some well known names as the younger one’s will not know of them.
Yep, lazy piece full of assumptions.
The author has clearly reviewed the evidence, or lack of in this instance, and cites sources. It is not an opinion piece.
yes i had the TCM cupping experience. Funny. The cupping on my back left black marks on upper back (smoker) and red marks around kidneys and liver (drinker). Go figure. Excising toxins through the epidermis?
Myofascial cupping is used in remedial massage therapy to loosen off muscles and increase blood flow and is taught in courses qualifying for it.
I’ve had it done a few times and it’s hard to judge the specific effect since a range of methods are used in a massage session. There were no negative effects. Put alongside the adverse effects of the once-silver-bullet anti-inflammatory drugs used in muscle and joint pain it looks pretty harmless.
All it is doing is causing a shallow bruise under the skin through the bursting of small capillaries. It’s harmless to the point of useless.
Kiwin0z, did you not read that cupping is used in combination with other muscle treatment processes, or were you too busy jumping on the opinion band wagon, you should go back and re-read what was written..
Cupping is not a stand alone treatment..
So, would you get a different result if you just did the massage and touch without the cupping?
It. Has. No. Effect.
A placebo effect is an effect. If it works, and does no harm, why is it an issue?
Is that the triumph of anecdote over data?
Looks like deep muscle therapy and swedish massage might be a cheaper and better alternative.
Is saying a prayer ahead of your event still okay? It could be one athlete’s ancient technique is another’s woo woo.
Cupping, should be combined with Iridology and crystals if they are serious about a holistic approach to success. Then perhaps an IQ test. OR alternatively train more.