The Basics Of What Cupping Is
At its simplest, cupping is where a special type of cup is used to apply a noticeable amount of suction to an area of skin on your body. This is for a set amount of time, and then the suction is reduced so the cups can then be removed. As for how this is beneficial, we’ll get to that further down.
The Main Causes Of Post-Workout Soreness
We’re not going to go into the lengthy list of possible reasons for soreness after a workout, as there are far too many to name them all. Before getting into how cupping helps, we’ll go over the two main causes of the soreness you get from a good workout where nothing goes wrong and you don’t accidentally hurt yourself or anything like that.
These two main causes are the lack of sufficient circulation and tiny microtears in your muscles.
In the first case, while working out, your muscle tissue uses up nutrients and makes waste. Often, your body’s just not able to keep up with the waste and, therefore, has to catch up with detoxing your muscles afterward. In the meantime, the waste is like a toxin in your muscles, which is what makes them feel so sore even if you didn’t pull anything.
As for the microtears, while you probably think of these as bad, they’re actually a good thing if you want to build up muscle quickly, as they encourage new muscle growth. Still, as they are literal damage to your muscles, common sense says they’ll make you feel sore after your workout.
How Cupping Reduces Post-Workout Soreness
Cupping helps with both the main reasons behind post-workout soreness by virtue of its primary benefit: it increases the circulation to the areas it is used on.
For those toxins in your muscles, this results in them being removed faster. The less time they spend in your muscles, the less these areas will feel sore.
As for the microtears, well, the more blood able to get to these, the faster they are able to heal, which also means they hurt less.
What Cupping Is Like At A Wellness Center
Firstly, you’ll need to set up a time for a cupping session, either in person at our Recovery Lab locations or over the phone or internet.
Our trained recovery specialist, who will be doing the cupping on you, will walk you through everything. As cupping can’t be done through clothes, part of getting ready is removing or moving clothing out of the way. Also, as cupping takes up to an hour or so at the very longest, you’ll be lying down in as comfortable a position as possible.
Then, our specialist will do all the work of applying the cups, ensuring your comfort, and then taking off the cups so you can get up. You’re then free to leave. That’s it!
