Michael Phelps Does Cupping For Recovery. Should You?

You've seen the tell tale signs all over his back and shoulders during the Rio Olympics. Strange, dark purplish circular marks were seen on Michael Phelp's body.

These are the marks after cupping is done. Cupping (thought to be an ancient Chinese recovery technique) is supposed to help recovery and increase mobility.

Glass cups are put on the skin to create suction (using either heat or air), pulling the skin slightly up and away from the underlying muscles. The suction usually lasts only a few minutes, it then causes the capillaries just beneath the skin's surface to rupture. This causes the obvious eye-catching bruises that you see.

The Chinese practitioners believe this can balance the flow of Qi (energy) and blood to wherever it is stagnant or deficient due to soft tissue imbalances from over training or traumatic injuries.

You can expect to feel some mild discomfort (from the tugging of the skin) but it's mostly relaxing once you get used to it. Your skin may feel a little sensitive afterwards. The cupping can be repeated again after the marks from the previous session have dissipated, which usually take a few days.

There's no doubt many athletes, coaches and trainers believe in cupping for recovery even if there isn't any clear and convincing evidence that it is better than myofascial release, massage, taping or using your pressure ball/ foam roller. 

Even my dad believes in cupping. I remember helping my dad do cupping on his back at home as a teenager. I had to put glass cups after using a lighter to set fire to a piece of cotton ball that he'd soaked with some Chinese herbs. I definitely had no knowledge of what it was back then.

If you're looking for scientific proof for cupping, a meta-analysis of 135 controlled trials suggest that more research is needed although there appears to be no negative effects.

The athletes may be feeling better because of a placebo effect. Still, a placebo effect can be beneficial at the Olympic level as Michael Phelps will attest.

My dad? He comes to our clinic for treatment when needed now.

References

H Cao, X Li and J Liu (2012). An Updated Review Of The Efficacy Of Cupping Therapy. PLos One. 7(2): e31793. DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0031793.

Rozenfeld E and Kalichman L (2016). New Is The Well-forgotten Old: The Use Of Dry Cupping In Musculoskeletal Medicine. J Bodywork Mvt Therapies. 20(1): 173-178. DOI: 10.1016/j.jbmt2015.11.009.

Too Much Recovery May Slow You Down

*You did great Jo!!!

You've read that it's best to do a recovery ice bath after your training session, eat within 30 minutes of your exercise to replenish your glycogen stores, get a massage etc.

Well, you'd better stop that. Are you kidding me? Isn't that what Michael Phelps, Joseph Schooling and all the other top athletes do after training? And you're asking me not to do that?

Well, don't be recovery-obsessed, not while you're in training anyway.

Exercise and training are all about adapting to stress. However, the more time you spend "forcing" recovery, the less chance your muscles have to build up strength and endurance.

Researchers are discovering that when you try to recover quickly (from training) by removing the signals of stress (from your exercise/ training), you may be helping only short term recovery. This will also reduce the signals needed for your muscles to adapt.

While the researchers are suggesting that you still need to recover from training, but you just need to plan and periodize recovery the same way you would plan and periodize your training.

Meaning, you don't have to achieve optimal recovery after every training session. Some fatigue and soreness is acceptable and even necessary at certain times in your training program.

However, during high quality training sessions and especially during competition, an increased focus on recovery (and not adaptation) is needed.

So here are some general guidelines. Most often your recovery strategies should be targeted towards the longer term.

During base training/ pre season or easy workouts, adaptation to training stress is fine. You want some fatigue and soreness (or "inflammation") because this is part of the muscular adaptation process. Using ice immersion post training will often interfere with the adaptation process leading to less than optimal adaptations.

Ice immersion can be used during competitions (althogh evidence now suggests hot immersions are better) especially if you're racing in a few events a few hours later (like Phelps and Schooling during the Olympics) or over a few days. It is also time to eat real good food to recover, get your massage sessions in etc.

You'll probably have to figure what works best for you as different recovery strategies work differently for everyone. Some prefer a massage while others prefer ice baths.

References

Halson SL, Bartram J et al (2014). Does Hydrotherapy Help Or Hinder Adaptation To Training In Competitive Cyclists? Med Sci Sports Ex. 46(2):1631-1639. DOI: 10.1249/MSS.0000000000000268.

Roberts LA, Raastad T et al (2015). Post-exercise Cold Water Immersion Attenuates Acute Anabolic Signaling And Long-term Adaptations In Muscle To Strength Training. J Physiol 593(18) : 4285-4301. DOI: 10.1113/JP270570.

*I used to swim with and treat Jo Schooling way back in 2004-2008 when we were both swimming at the Centre of Excellence under coach John Dempsey. He used to kick my butt in the pool even when he was ten years old. Great job on winning Singapore's first ever gold medal at the Olympics. So very happy and proud of you!