drtbear1967
Musclechemistry Board Certified Member
Cupping comes from traditional Chinese medicine. It has been around forever and I’ve seen claims ranging from a treatment for mild pain to its ability to suck evil spirits out of your body.
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To create suction, circular cups are placed onto the skin, then either heat or an air pump to is applied. The effect is somewhat like receiving a hickey.. The suction breaks the blood vessels beneath the cup, allowing blood pool under the surface of the skin. This results in a gnarly bruise and the belief that it’ll speed up muscle soreness recovery or pain in general.
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But what does the science say?
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It’s lacking. There aren’t well controlled studies and the majority of them end with saying “further high quality studies of larger sample sizes are needed to assess the effectiveness of cupping therapy.”.
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I’ll cut the boring science and give you an answer you’re wanting to hear.
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If you believe that it will help your pain/recovery, odds are, it will help.
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The placebo effect happens in A LOT of treatments. This was proven by a guy who did a study with acupuncture needles. One group got real acupuncture treatment and others received a fake needle. Both groups reported similar pain relief. Why is that? Because of perception. They were aware that the treatment supposedly helped with pain. The result.. less pain.
.
To create suction, circular cups are placed onto the skin, then either heat or an air pump to is applied. The effect is somewhat like receiving a hickey.. The suction breaks the blood vessels beneath the cup, allowing blood pool under the surface of the skin. This results in a gnarly bruise and the belief that it’ll speed up muscle soreness recovery or pain in general.
.
But what does the science say?
.
It’s lacking. There aren’t well controlled studies and the majority of them end with saying “further high quality studies of larger sample sizes are needed to assess the effectiveness of cupping therapy.”.
.
I’ll cut the boring science and give you an answer you’re wanting to hear.
.
If you believe that it will help your pain/recovery, odds are, it will help.
.
The placebo effect happens in A LOT of treatments. This was proven by a guy who did a study with acupuncture needles. One group got real acupuncture treatment and others received a fake needle. Both groups reported similar pain relief. Why is that? Because of perception. They were aware that the treatment supposedly helped with pain. The result.. less pain.
