The red circles are back! The reddish purplish bruises clearly visible on the body of Gregorio Paltrinieri – and on that of other athletes – they have a precise and much less mysterious origin than it seems: they are the result of Cupping Therapy. “I took it back, I’m trying them all”said the champion before the 1500 meters style final in Budapest.
But what is the Cupping Therapy (in Italian cupping)? It is a therapy that comes from Chinese medicine that it serves for relieve muscle and joint pain also widely used among sportsmen. A treatment that involves the use of small glass cups previously heated with a flame and applied to the skin for a few minutes: just like suckers, by sucking the tissues inside them, they reactivate the blood circulation leaving the characteristic red circular marks, which however disappear after a few days.
Although it appears to have no scientific basis, Cupping Therapy has been very popular among athletes since Rio2016 but the proponent of this mania was, at the time, the actress Gwyneth Paltrowfamous (also) for sponsoring on his own blog alternative medicine, imitated by her ex-husband Chris Martinbut also the ex posh-spice Victoria Beckham And Lady Gaga walked on some red carpets with skin marked by Cupping Therapy. Among the sportsmen, however, we remember the Chinese swimmer Wang Qun at the Olympics Beijing in 2008 that, in the tub, sported conspicuous round bruises.
Source: Vanity Fair
