Cupping- I Tried it & Survived to Recap

First off:

Cupping was a thing before Michael Phelps made it a thing.
Every time I typed ‘cup’ into Google it started showing me cupcakes.
Yes. You may giggle about the name now and throughout this post.

The first time I heard about cupping was during an episode of the Amazing Race a couple years ago. They had it done in Asia somewhere and sobbed in pain. In retrospect, I don’t have any idea why they were crying. A friend of mine does cupping (feel free to giggle), as well as other massage treatments and offered to let me try it. I told her about the Amazing Race episode and she said that was some staged nonsense or some other treatment. She promised I wouldn’t cry and it wouldn’t hurt. I actually think I made some sort of ‘if I cry, you owe me a pie’ arrangement, because I meant business.

I sit here today pie-less.

Why are People Doin’ it?

It is a process where a glass cup is placed on your skin and then either using either heat or an air pump to create suction, it pulls your skin up separating it from underlying muscles. It can release tension, loosen tight muscles, and promote blood flow. The technique can create the same results and feelings of a deep tissue massage, without the repetitive pressing down used in that type of massage.

Why does it Leave Dalmatian Spots?

It doesn’t on everyone. It depends on how strong the suction is and the individual person. It can leave spots because it can cause the capillaries beneath the surface of the skin to rupture. Those are pretty big and intense sounding medical words for… it’s just like a hickey (not that I would know anything about that).

My Experience

It’s no big deal at all. I was just sure it was actually going to hurt after looking at how the skin looks through the cup. Nope, doesn’t hurt.

The cups get applied one at a time and then stay on for ten minutes. Towards the end, a few of them did have a tight or pressure feeling. I am not saying the word pressure the way dentists say it when they give you shots. “You’re gonna feel some pressure now.” Not the kind of pressure that is actually pain.

It would be less scary if the tool to apply them wasn’t essentially a gun. That’s my pretty friend Kim. I had my phone because I had to quick text Tom to tell him that another deputy’s wife was busy cupping me. I’m mature like that.

I have a freckle or two.

Taking them off was easy and painless too. It was actually a pretty cool feeling. I’m two days out now and have very light bruising on a couple of the spots. Basically, my back feels like I got a massage. If you don’t drink water for a living like me, make sure that you do drink quite a bit of water just like after a massage due to the toxins released.

Overall, I’m a fan of cupping. That’s what she said. I would like to try it out on my legs sometime and see if it helps to relieve some of that pain at all.

Now for the funniest picture. Bailey was interested for a completely different reason.