Chip Explains Cupping Therapy

Over the past couple of weeks, most of us were glued to our televisions for the Rio Olympics. Swimming seemed to steal the show as always, with Michael Phelps picking up another 5 gold medals and becoming the most Olympic decorated athlete of all time. When Phelps showed up for his first races in Rio, everyone watching on TV wondered the same thing: “What are all those circles all over his shoulders?”

The treatment that Phelps and many others underwent is known as cupping. Although this is the newest trend in the media as a means of treatment and recovery, forms of cupping date back almost 1500 years¹. This treatment has been used for many conditions, ranging from musculoskeletal injuries to acne and dyspnea². There are many different forms of cupping: wet, dry, fire, medicinal, among others. For fire cupping, a pre-heated cup is placed over the skin, and the reduction in air volume under the cup will create a vacuum that sucks the skin up into the cup. Since we don’t enjoy playing with fire at Queens University, we use suction guns to create the same effect when we cup our athletes. I’m sure you’re wondering: does it actually work?

For athletes and the active population, I’ll focus a quick discussion of research on musculoskeletal uses. While there are some promising preliminary studies, the conclusion with all of these studies is that much research remains to be done^3-5. Some studies showed significant reductions in pain in patients with low back pain⁴ when compared with other treatments, while others showed no difference from traditional massage in chronic neck pain⁵. When more definitive and high quality research is available, we’ll know if Michael Phelps was onto something in Rio!

1.     Andrew Rippin and Jan Knappert, Textual Sources for the Study of Islam, Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1986; Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1990. 78.

2.     Cao, Huijuan, Xun Li, and Jianping Liu. "An updated review of the efficacy of cupping therapy." PLoS One 7.2 (2012): e31793.

3.     Al Bedah Abdullah M.N., Khalil Mohamed K.M., Posadzki Paul, Sohaibani Imen, Aboushanab Tamer Shaaban, AlQaed Meshari, and Ali Gazzaffi I.M.. The Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine. August 2016, ahead of print. doi:10.1089/acm.2016.0193.

4.     Huang, Chia-Yu, Mun-Yau Choong, and Tzong-Shiun Li. "Effectiveness of cupping therapy for low back pain: a systematic review." Acupuncture in Medicine (2013): acupmed-2013

5.     Lauche, Romy, et al. "Effectiveness of home-based cupping massage compared to progressive muscle relaxation in patients with chronic neck pain—A randomized controlled trial." PloS one 8.6 (2013): e65378 [FFT]