Cups pinching up mounds of flesh from your back might sound like a new grotesque procedure but it’s one that’s provided near-instant relief for body pain for thousands of years.
Cupping therapy practitioners are sparse in San Luis Obispo County, but it’s slowly growing in demand. While the jury’s still out on whether cupping originated in China or was founded by ancient Egyptians, therapists link its current popularity to a camera-grabbing point in sports history.
“Back when Michael Phelps was winning all those gold medals for swimming, people noticed all those cupping marks on his back,” licensed acupuncturist Veronica Avery told me on Feb. 1. “I was at the water park in Paso Robles and had cupping marks on my back. This girl came up to me and said, ‘Hey, that’s what Michael Phelps had!'”
Made a status symbol of sorts by famous athletes, the ruddy circular marks often seen on the backs, shoulders, and arms of many fitness enthusiasts are left behind by the cups. Those reddish rings are called petechiae, according to Avery, who owns Avery Acupuncture and Natural Medicine in Paso Robles.
“It’s going to depend on the person,” she said. “You can see their muscles are being overused in certain areas and the petechiae is darker there. I might poke around and ask them if they had injuries in those areas.”
Eva Malama, the founder of San Luis Chronic Pain Therapies, added that the petechiae colors indicate the level of blood stagnation. A reddish-pink hue signifies the area has healthy circulation while purplish marks mean blocked natural blood and energy flow in that region.
The most common misconception about cupping, Malama said, is that people consider petechiae to be bruising.
“Bruising implies that there’s a breakage of the capillaries and blood vessels,” she said. “But that’s not the case, if it’s done right. … It’s your stagnant blood, lymph, cell debris, toxins. It’s just stuff that … gets pulled up and it relies on your lymph system to kind of flush it out. All we’re doing is helping the body do its job.”
Malama demonstrated the process on me. She displayed the three kinds of cups she uses on clients—a set of aquamarine silicone ones, a couple of bell jar-shaped vacuum suction cups, and large glass orbs that rely on heat per Chinese tradition.
After a massage with a coconut oil mixture, Malama first placed the silicone cups on my back. She moved them around and explained that the cups provide clues to the zones that need attention. Surely enough, following a few seconds of her gliding the cup up and down my back, it clung to the back of my neck. It tugged at my skin with a pleasant pinch in the sore area.
Malama did the same with the vacuum-suction cups. When they stuck to my lower back, she attached a manual vacuum pistol to the top that sucked the air out of the cup and puffed up the enclosed skin.
Finally, Malama lit a cotton ball soaked with 91 percent isopropyl alcohol and held it inside a glass cup to remove the oxygen inside it. She immediately placed the cup on my back, which created negative pressure that drew the skin upward. Much to my relief, the cup soon found my Pilates-worn upper left shoulder and glued itself there. When Malama removed all the cups a mere 10 minutes later, I emerged refreshed sans soreness and with rosy disc marks on my upper back.
Both she and Avery told me that unlike deep-tissue massages that require practitioners to push into the skin, cupping therapy focuses on upward pressure. That decompression promotes healthy blood circulation.
“The Chinese philosophy is that you can keep your blood and chi [life energy] flowing. You keep chi flowing, you shouldn’t have pain,” Malama said. “It’s the same when we talk about keeping good circulation.”
Almost anyone can enjoy cupping’s calming benefits. Malama said she’s used silicone cups on her kids to combat colds and fevers. Avery, too, caters to a variety of clients.
“I have people who sit behind desks all day. Their shoulders are hunched, necks are in a forward position, and they get migraines,” Avery said. “They love cupping. It decompresses, creates blood flow, and people can be really productive.”
Both Avery and Malama offer cupping therapy either as an add-on service or inclusive of the acupuncture and massage. Malama’s San Luis Chronic Pain Therapies has 75-minute sessions for $155 and 95-minute ones for $185. Recently, she added an express version where people can enjoy 30-minute cupping sessions for $60. She recommended cupping as often as once a week but said the optimal frequency depends on each person and their needs.
Post cupping care primarily involves lots of hydration, according to Malama and Avery. Regular attendees can even find the need for other corrective care reduce over time.
“It may require eight to 12 acupuncture sessions but if you incorporate cupping work into it, it can decrease the number of times they come to see me by 50 percent,” Avery said.
Cupping can be done at home too with the help of kits that contain plastic cups. But Avery urged caution—people think a lot of pressure is required when plastic cups are used, she said.
“You don’t need a lot of suction to break up fascia [thin casing of connective tissue that covers the body],” Avery said. “Anybody who wants to do this at home: Make sure you start with a little bit of suction. If it hurts worse after, you’re not doing it right. Go to a professional.” Δ
Reach Staff Writer Bulbul Rajagopal at brajagopal@newtimesslo.com.
This article appears in Health & Wellness 2024.