Cupping Gone Bad

Picture from Newsflash/ Australscope

Cupping became very popular after Michael Phelps was pictured with cupping marks on his back while competing at the 2016 Rio Olympics.

However, there was a major outcry after a three month old baby with 'too much gas' in Turkey was pictured being treated by cupping. At least cupping seems better compared to a two week old baby being treated by a chiropractor in Melbourne.

In my humble opinion, treatments like that should not be allowed when a child is that young.

Research (a meta-analysis of 135 controlled trials) show that there seems to be no negative effects on adults if cupping was done in moderation (Cao et al, 2012) In addition, adults are able give consent and feedback.

Picture from CEN/ Australscope

Treatment can go wrong with adults too. The 63 year old man pictured above wanted to treat his 'frozen shoulder' and went for cupping treatment 10 days in a row. The person treating him placed the cups in exactly the same positions daily. He was due to continue with the same treatment for two more days but experienced severe pain and a high fever. Fortunately, he went to the hospital instead. 

The following article explains how cupping for treatment works and attempts to offer possible  explanations of its effects (Al-Bedah et al, 2019), of which includes the Pain Gate Theory, TENs, blood detoxification and Reflex zone theory etc. However, no single theory exists to explain the whole effect of cupping.

Well, what we can learn from the above incidences is to ensure that cupping isn't done to the same spot on consecutive days.

References

Al-Bedah AMN, Elsubai IS, Qureshi NA et al (2019). The Medical Perspective Of Cupping Therapy: Effects And Mechanisms Of Action. J Tradit Complement Med. 9(2): 90-97. DOI: 10.1016/j.jcme.2018.03.003

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.

You Two Came All The Way From Saudi Arabia?

Nada from Saudi Arabia

We have 2 overseas participants this time, all the way from Saudi Arabia as Sports Solutions hosted Day 1 of the Kinesio Taping Asessments, Fundamental Concepts and Techniques course today. Thanks to Nicole Montes from Kinesio USA for putting my course details on their website.

Tensegrity model

We began our day with some lessons on anatomy and discussions on how the tape works, the homunculus, the tensegrity model and the Pain Gate Theory amongst others. Yes, I did explain about the how that original 1965 paper by Ronald Melzack and Patrick Wall may still be very relevant in some ways presently.

After all that talking, it was of course time for the practical.

Where's his head?

Here you go

Stay tuned for Day 2 tomorrow.

11th Floss Band Course

What a coincidence. Physio Solutions turned eleven earlier this week and at the end of the same week I'm teaching the 11th Floss Band course. Good things come in pairs I suppose.

My Saturday usually starts with an early bike ride. I'm usually out of the house before six in the morning and get back in time to start work in our clinic by 10:30 am. I see patients til 1:30 pm so I have about 30 mins to get ready.

Drenched this morning

Thanks to Danny and Amy who have already set up the chairs, projector etc I hook up my laptop to get my presentation ready before I try to eat and drink a little before I start teaching at 2 pm.

Fortunately, the course got up fine today. Despite my early start, I wasn't too tired and was still able to answer the questions that came my way. We had a mix of trainers, physiotherapy students, massage therapists, cross fitters and a couple of physiotherapists attending today.

3D image of skin, fascia and muscle from my slides

We went through the anatomy and function of fascia, Pain Gate Theory etc so the participants can explain how the Floss Bands work.

Too tight says Si Rui

A big thank you to Danny, Amy and Jane who came later for helping to get the clinic ready for the course and also for helping tidy up after. Please contact them at Sanctband Singapore for the next Floss Band course and if you need to get the Floss bands.

Thank you to the participants who came too. Hope everyone found the course useful.

Storm Before Floss Band Course

Storm outside our clinic

There was a big storm before the Floss band course today and maybe that's why the turn out was less than normal. But it certainly didn't dampen our spirits. We had a chiropractor, physiotherapy students, a Singapore Cycling Association coach, another strength and conditioning coach from CrossFit Fire City and personal trainers.

Flossing Ben's knee

As usual, I took the time and effort to explain Tensegrity, what and how our fascia functions and the Pain Gate Theory (by Ronald Melzack and Patrick Wall, 1965) so that the participants understand how the Floss band works. And they can in turn explain to their patients, athletes and friends what the Floss band does.

Can't touch my head

A big thank you to Amy, Danny, Ekina and Jane for coming to get the clinic ready for the course. That allowed me to eat after I saw patients in the clinic from this morning. And for packing up after, so I can see another patient.

A big thank you to everyone who came despite the heavy storm before. Hope everyone learnt useful strategies that you can use use in your own area or work, play and training.

Please contact them at Sanctband Singapore for the next Floss band course and if you need to get the Floss bands.

A big thank you to everyone who came despite the heavy storm before. Hope everyone learnt useful strategies that you can use use in your own area or work, play and training.