Does anybody know if it’s woo or real?
Any experiences?
It seems to be absolute bullshit, based on what we used to believe about how the human body operates. I have found numerous somewhat reputable websites that use weasel words like “people say”, “people believe”, “it is said” etc. but I can’t really find one that is enthusiastic about the practice. Cupping therapy - Wikipedia
Are you looking at relief for a specific ailment?
No. Just curious. I’ve always found bruising to have its own pain. I can’t see how relief of one thing makes the next pain of less value(eh).
I saw an Italian athlete that had the tell-tale bruise on his shoulder. Deep purple. I thought “dang, that’s gotta be sore”
I saw the marks on one person and I asked what they were. She said that it was the aftereffect of cupping and said that it removed toxins.
Me: “Did a doctor or nurse say you had any specific toxins that needed to be removed?”
She: “No.”
Me: “Did the person doing the cupping tell what toxins were being removed?”
She: “No.”
Me: “Did the person doing the cupping show you any toxins that came out”
She: “No.”
Me: “If I use a small cup to put bruises all over your body, how much will you pay me?”
She: “Fuck off.”
Athletes are among the most gullible in relation to “alternative” health treatments. In an effort to get an edge, they characteristically fall for modalities that are at best useless and at worst actively harmful.
Just because professional athletes do it does not make it scientifically valid and not woo.
Athletes seem to be into every variety of woo going. In not sure why. My guess is state of mind and confidence are so important that the placebo affect of these kind of things is actually fairly valuable (or they and their coaches think it is). Also presumably the makers of these kind of shams put a lot of effort into convincing athletes to use them. Knowing that people will see them and assume they are actually medically valid
You can bet that use of woo is widespread among Olympic athletes.
Tom Brady was also notorious in this regard, for example in regard to diet claims.
Even modalities that don’t sound like obvious woo, such as use of platelet-rich plasma to treat soft tissue injuries and stem cell treatments for similar applications have a dubious evidentiary basis.
An artist friend of mine showed up to a gallery opening after having extensive cupping on her back. She’s well over six feet tall, and her backless dress (highlighting dozens of large overlapping circles) made for the most interesting canvas of the night.
By the way, she’s moved on to other “treatments” since then… never met a pseudo-health craze she didn’t want to try.
My wife was an IronMan. No longer competes. She did cupping once. It was stupid 10 years ago, and is stupid still. (I was her Sherpa)
It doesn’t hurt at all. It’s not a deep bruise it’s more like a hickey. It goes away pretty quickly. My wife has had it done while getting acupuncture. While there are scientific studies about the effectiveness of acupuncture cupping it’s complete bullshit.
It is no more dangerous than ear candling, and just as valid.
Well, they’re not allowed to take drugs anymore, so they’ll try anything.
When aromatherapy, cupping, ear-candling (yeah - forgot that one 
) and the like are banned by sports as ‘performance enhancing’ you’ll know they probably have some benefit. Until then…
I thought this was going to be a thread about baseball players who adjust themselves during an at bat. Carry on.
Or pole-vaulters🤭
I haven’t seen any studies comparing risks of ear candling and cupping, but both can result in burns and other injuries.
This list of potential injuries from cupping is…impressive (note that it’s supplied by authors who are laughably credulous about purported benefits).
Apart from bruising and erythema (redness), the risk of significant adverse events due to cupping is probably low. But when a modality has no proven benefits, any significant harms are unacceptable.
“Cupping” always brings to mind a scene in Ken Russell’s “The Devils” that puts a whole different spin on the procedure. Without going in to too much detail I’ll just say it involves bees and a dialog line “Poison to exorcise poison!”
Professional athletes think that they can’t change socks during a hitting streak, or not shaving magically helps, and they think talking about a no hitter can end it. So, yeah, ignore profesional athletes on almost everything.
You mock it. But what treatment would you give to somebody whose body has too much yellow bile?
Liver transplant?