Treating Sports Injuries with Cupping

Beyond a shadow of a doubt, sports have lots of benefits. For instance, it helps you to sleep well, gives you a strong heart, reduces your stress, and improves your mental health. Aside from all those health benefits, sportspeople make money and network as well.

Despite all the benefits of sports, one challenge that players cannot completely avoid is sports injury. It happens when a part of the body is strained, torn, sprained, etc. Injuries, as you would expect, come with pains. In some cases, injured players miss important games. More often than not, when sports injuries occur, gamers go to the hospitals for treatment. So, little or nothing is known about cupping. Hence, people ask, “Is cupping good for athletes?” In this informative piece, you will learn all that and more.

Types of Sports Injuries

Before getting down to the nitty-gritty, you need to understand the types of sports injuries. More importantly, you should know that they have different symptoms and complications.
Dislocation: When your bone is forced out of its socket, you have a dislocation. One common characteristic of dislocation is excruciating pain. If not treated instantly, dislocation culminates in swelling and weakness. It is common among sportspeople who have to strain their bones to deliver excellent performances.

Shin splints: Well, shin splints often result in throbbing, aching, and stabbing pain inside the lower part of the leg. It is common among sprinters and inexperienced joggers. Basically, the pains start when the muscles and tendons around the tibia are inflamed.

Knee injuries: This usually happens around the knee joint and affects the athlete’s performance. Oftentimes, the knees’ muscles and tissues are affected.

Sprains: A sportsman or woman is said to have suffered a sprain injury when they tear or overstretch the ligaments. If you are unaware, ligaments are a band of flexible tissues that either connect bones or joints.

Achilles tendon rupture: If you are a sportsman, you are likely to experience Achilles tendon rupture at some point in your career. As you already know, the Achilles tendon is located just behind your ankle. When Achilles tendon rupture happens, you have sharp sensational pain or find yourself unable to walk. It is more likely to happen during sports because they are arduous activities.

Tennis elbow: If you always play rackets, the chances are that you are familiar with tennis elbow. It occurs due to the inflammation of the tendons around your elbow. Before the inflammation takes place, it is preceded by small tears. Aside from sportspeople, painters and plumbers are likely to suffer this injury.

Rotator Cuff Injuries: Well, the rotator cuff is the muscle and tendons that keep the upper arm or humerus in your shoulder’s socket. It has several muscles, including supraspinatus, infraspinatus, teres minor, and subscapularis. If an injury occurs in that region, it means that the shoulder won’t be able to move properly.

Hamstring injury: As regards hamstring injury, it is the strain or tear to the tendons at the back of the thigh. It is common among sportspeople and has varying severity. It also has three major grades. Grade 1 (a mild pull or strain), Grade 2 (partial muscle tear), and Grade 3 (a complete muscle tear). Its severity determines how long it takes the sportsperson to recover from it.

Fracture: When your bone breaks, you have a fracture. A fracture happens when a certain force (hit or kick) is exerted on the body more than it can bear, leading to breakage. It could be partial or complete. It is also associated with pains. In sports, fracture is a nightmare scenario because it is capable of ending sportspeople’s careers.

Treating Sports Injuries with Cupping

By and large, treating one or more of these injuries can be as simple as applying ice, compression, or elevation.

In some cases, all you need is rest to get your body working optimally again. However, cupping can also help treat these sports injuries. You see, the traditional healing technique pulls blood to a region to stimulate healing. When you experience tight fascia and muscles, cupping can be effective in that regard. Oftentimes, it leads to neovascularization, the natural formation of new blood vessels in form of functional microvascular networks. New blood is processed as it gets into the tissue around the cups. Afterward, the new vessels receive nutrients and oxygen, which culminates in long-lasting pain relief. For muscle recovery, dry cupping therapy helps to speed it up. This is particularly because the traditional healing technique delivers essential nutrients and oxygen to hard-worked muscles and bones of the body.

In summary, cupping is effective because it:

Increases blood circulation,
Stretches fascia and connective tissues,
Improves oxygenation and tissue delivery,
Creates new blood vessels,
Gets rid of old blood segments and toxins, and
Stimulates micro trauma and alleviates inflammation.

Final Thoughts

As regards cupping for injuries, acupuncturists often combine it with acupuncture (dry needling) to deliver the best result. Today, evidence-based medical experts have carried out extensive studies to determine if cupping therapy is a potent injury treatment. For example, David P. Trofa, an orthopedic sports medicine surgeon, did a study to examine the efficacy of cupping in treating musculoskeletal injuries. In the end, Dr. Trofa and his team concluded that cupping is effective. The researcher also added that the therapy has no side effects.
Furthermore, renowned sportspeople like Chinese swimmer Wang Qun and British tennis professional Andy Murray have disclosed that cupping therapy helped them maintain their top-flight status. Are you an (aspiring or professional) athlete or sportsperson who always experiences pains or injuries while performing? If so, you should learn from Wang Qun and Andy Murray to get to the pinnacle of your career by booking a cupping session. To do that, get in contact with our specialist now.

References
1. Felson S. What is my rotator cuff, and why does it hurt? https://www.webmd.com/pain-management/what-is-my-rotator-cuff. Revised May 15, 2021. Accessed November 6, 2021.
2. Trofa DP, Obana KK, Ahmad CS et al. The evidence for common nonsurgical modalities in sports medicine, part 2: cupping and blood flow restriction. J Am Acad Orthop Surg Glob Res Rev. 2020 Jan; 4(1): e19.00105.
3. Nall R. Rotator cuff tear. https://www.healthline.com/health/rotator-cuff-injury. Revised March 8, 2019. Accessed November 5, 2021.
4. What is fracture? Cedars Sinai Org. https://www.cedars-sinai.org/health-library/diseases-and-conditions/f/fractures.html. Accessed November 5, 2021.
5. Heitz D. Everything you need to know about sports injuries and rehab. https://www.healthline.com/health/sports-injuries. Revised November 9, 2018. Accessed November 6, 2021.
6. Davis CP. Sports injuries: types, treatments, and prevention. https://www.onhealth.com/content/1/sports_injuries. Revised December 5, 2018. Accessed November 5, 2021.
7. Carlotti P, Taylor J. What is cupping therapy? Here’s what to know about the benefits and risks. https://www.menshealth.com/health/a19519212/what-is-cupping-therapy/. Revised October 25, 2018. Accessed November 5, 2021.
8. When to consider dry cupping therapy. Integrated body & medicine blog. https://www.integratedbodyandmed.com/blog/when-to-consider-dry-cupping-therapy#:~:text=Low%2Dgrade%20chronic%20pain%20in,like%20effects%20of%20the%20therapy. Accessed November 5, 2021.
9. Hamstring injury. UK’s National Health Service. https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/hamstring-injury/. Accessed November 5, 2021.

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