Michael Phelps may be the most decorated Olympian, but he’s been getting attention for the round marks seen all over his shoulders.
“I went to the gym and people said did you see those marks,” said Bronywn Clark.
The marks on the Olympic Gold Medalist are evidence of his choice of therapy. It's called cupping.
“A massage heals by pushing in to the muscles and cupping helps by pulling muscles, separating the layers and allowing for circulation,” Clark said.
She has a license in acupuncture and uses cupping on patients to relieve sore muscles and also create energy. She said it’s part of routine acupuncture service that has been around in the U.S. for decades. It has only become popular in recent years, she said.
“There's a lot of repetitive motion from the back stroke, the butterfly,” Clark said. “It probably feels pretty good after swimming hours and hours for years preparing for the Olympics.”
Which is why Phelps isn't the only one baring his cupping marks in Rio. Olympic gymnasts and swimmers are even posting photos of their therapy sessions on Instagram.
In one of them, you can see Phelps getting cupped on his legs.
“For the most part people love cupping,” Clark said. “It feels like a gentle and relaxing massage.”
WUSA9 reporter Ileana Diaz gave it a try. In this particular method, the therapist used cupping to help with headaches and sinus infection.
“The longer it's in place, the longer the broken capillaries,” Clark said. “It's not a true bruise, it's just broken capillaries under the surface.”
No bruised capillaries for Diaz, but the method Phelps used is usually more aggressive, leaving marks in the treated areas.
“They would have had left it in place like that and over a period of two minutes the capillaries break leaving a little mark,” she said.
A little mark that’s now created a lot of buzz over this kind of therapy.
