Is cupping therapy friend or foe? A personal view and experience

Recently many colleages and friends asked about the dark, mystical marks they saw on Michael Phelps and Alex Naddour, and their interest in the so-called “cupping therapy” arise. Some advocates on the webs saying this therapy is a hidden gem and a miracle while many people who truly believe in western medicine suggest it may only involve the placebo effect. I use cupping therapy on a regular basis for improving my overall health status. As a naïve Chinese who are interested Traditional Chinese Medicine and studying a Ph.D. degree in biomolecular chemistry, I want to say something about cupping therapy and discuss the possible scientific explanation behind (if you don’t believe in Chinese Medicine). I aim to convince you that cupping therapy exists for good and hope you will have a chance to try it yourself!

So what is cupping therapy? An explanation in terms of Chinese Medicine

Cupping therapy has a very long history. However the origin of this technique remains controversial. In the old ancient days, people used animal horns or bamboo to suck out “toxin” or skin lesion. Modern “cupping therapy” can be divided into two categories – “dry cupping” and “fire cupping”. The general idea is that the cupping devices can generate negative pressure, suck on the surface “acupoints” of the body to cause local congestion, which can promote free passage in human channels (Acupoints and human channel are concepts in Chinese Medicine. Unlike the organs, these cannot be visualized by techniques such as MRI and their existence are controversial in Modern Western Medicine). In general Chinese think cupping can promote detoxification of the body and cure various diseases including Pneumonia, chronic gastritis, hypertension, to name but a few.

Can the therapeutic effect of cupping be explained by modern Western Medicine?

If you asked me to explain the effect of “cupping therapy” in terms of cell biology, I would say that the negative pressure generated by the cupping devices stimulate the skin and the underlying muscles. This can cause 1) increased blood flow to the “treatment site” thus potentially increasing clearance of the toxins from the body and 2) enhancement of both innate and acquired immune responses by bringing the peripheral blood mononuclear cells (e.g. white blood cells and lymphocytes) to the “treatment site” and therefore the macrophages can eat up the unwanted junks from the body.

Why the color of the “marks” vary? What does that mean?

Traditional Chinese physician believes that the nature and severity of the disease can be determined by the color of the marks. For example, if the color of the marks at the same local suction areas becomes gradually deeper after each treatment, it suggests the condition of the disease has worsened. Also the color of marks represents certain “disease state”. Here are some common examples:

No color change/light red: This means the blood circulate well in the body
Dark purple to black: This means high level of blood stagnation and blockage of the “human channel”
Bubbles on the cupping devices: This means high level of “body moisture” (another concept in Chinese medicine, people think the high level of body moisture could be a cause of various skin disorders)

I don’t know anything about “acupoints”. Is cupping useful for a general people like me who just want to erase pain?

Yes why not? Like Michael Phelps and Alex Naddour I don’t think they know anything about “acupoints”. They just tried cupping and it works for them to release muscle pain. However I would say learning “acupoints” and other related concepts in Chinese Medicine (e.g. Qi, human channel and body moisture) will definitely change your view on cupping and other Chinese physical therapies like “Gua sha” and “Acupressure”.

How can i get the cupping devices?

I got my vacuum suction cups from Amazon. Just search cupping devices and it will pop up with many choices. It’s not that expensive (~20 bucks). The package comes with a set of cups, a vacuum pump and an instruction to teach you some general ideas of “acupoints” and how to use the devices.

General advices on cupping

Once you try the cupping therapy you will become addicted (trust me!). One general rule of thumb is that don’t perform “cupping” very often (~2-3 times a week is optimal). Always wait for the marks to fade (~ 2-3 days for healthy people) before performing another sections otherwise it will cause skin irritation. Also DO NOT BATH immediately after “cupping”, your skins are in the hyper-sensitized state and very sensitive to change in the local temperature. It may cause skin irritation and skin burn.