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 Phelps, who won the 19th Olympic gold medal of his career on Sunday
and helped the U.S. men's team to victory in the 4x100 meters
freestyle relay, is one of a number of Olympic athletes practicing
"cupping," an ancient Chinese healing practice.
During the therapy cups are placed on the section of the body in
need of repair to create suction. The method is said to draw out any
toxins, mobilize blood flow, soothe sore muscles and even help cure
insomnia.
"I have done it for awhile but I haven’t had bad ones (marks) like
this awhile though," Phelps, who in 2015 posted an Instagram photo
of himself receiving the therapy, told reporters on Monday.
"That’s where I hurt the most," he said of the marks on his
shoulder. "I have done it before pretty much every meet I go to. I
just asked for a little cupping yesterday because I was sore."
The 31-year-old, raising a roar from the crowd on his first
competitive appearance at his fifth Games after sitting out the
heats, now has an unprecedented 23 medals with two silvers and two
bronzes filling out his tally.
On Monday, there were nearly 300 posts per minute mentioning Phelps
on Twitter, according to social media analytics firm Zoomph.
U.S. gymnast Alex Naddour, 25, and Belarusian swimmer Pavel
Sankovich are also fans of the procedure. Naddour posted a selfie
with a big cupping mark on his shoulder last week, while Sankovich,
26, posted a photo on Instagram in June saying, "This kinda Saturday
morning. Cupping is a great recovery tool."
Actresses Gwyneth Paltrow, Jennifer Aniston and pop star Justin
Bieber have also been photographed with the distinctive large
circles on their backs and chest.
However, while the therapy dates back to ancient Egyptian, Chinese,
and Middle Eastern cultures, it has been less popular among more
skeptical Western medical societies.
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"There is no scientific rationale for expecting any health benefit
from cupping," the American Cancer Society said in a statement on
Monday.
However, Jessica MacLean, acting director of the International
Cupping Therapy Association, said she has seen a 20 percent increase
in purchases of cupping therapy equipment and a 50 percent increase
of healthcare practitioners seeking out their cupping certificates
over the last three days.
MacLean, who receives cupping therapy daily and has been performing
the procedure on people for 24 years, said she saw a similar trend
after the “The Karate Kid” movie was released in 2010, which
featured the therapy briefly.
“Every time we see something like this happen in the media, it
piques people’s attention,” said MacLean. "When people get the
treatment and they recover really fast, they don’t care about the
scientific evidence - they just care that it works."
(Reporting by Melissa Fares in New York; Editing by Jill Serjeant
and Bill Rigby)
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