Hawkes Bay Today
  • Hawke's Bay Today home
  • Latest news
  • Sport
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
  • Video
  • Death notices
  • Classifieds

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • On The Up
  • Sport
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Residential property listings
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology

Locations

  • Napier
  • Hastings
  • Havelock North
  • Central Hawke's Bay
  • Tararua

Media

  • Video
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-Editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

Weather

  • Napier
  • Hastings
  • Dannevirke
  • Gisborne

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / Hawkes Bay Today

Cupping leaves its mark here and Rio

By Tracey Chatterton
Hawkes Bay Today·
13 Aug, 2016 11:00 PM4 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

WANNABE PHELPS: The purple bruising left from cupping.

WANNABE PHELPS: The purple bruising left from cupping.

Michae Phelps single-handedly raised the profile of cupping this week.

Many people had never heard of this traditional Chinese healing technique until spotting the purple dots on Phelps' shoulder as he powered towards another gold medal in the 4x100 relay.

At last count the American swimmer had won 22 Olympic gold medals.

Just like he dominated the pool, Phelps dominated headlines around the world. Not only was his performance in the spotlight, but his pre-race death stare, his laughter during the national anthem and, of course, the cupping.

"I've done it before meets ... pretty much every meet I go to," Phelps told journalists earlier in the week.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

"So I asked for a little cupping yesterday because I was sore and the trainer hit me pretty hard and left a couple of bruises."

Some articles explained how the therapy promoted recovery while others called it witchcraft.

I thought I'd do my own research and find out what cupping was all about.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Cupping is one of the treatments on offer at Acupuncture Heretaunga. It is an ancient technique used in treating pain and various disorders.

Acupuncturist Trudi Collins said dry cupping was the most common in New Zealand, using fire to create a vacuum or plastic cups with a suction device. The cups are placed over the painful area. It stimulates the flow of blood and clears toxins from the body. It also leaves a distinctive circular bruise which take a few days to clear.

Ms Collins said it really helped get the body moving freely again.

And with the amount of training athletes do to get to the Olympics, it is no wonder that Phelps and Sonny Bill Williams use it to loosen stiff muscles.

I spend a lot of time in front of a computer and swim three times a week so have a bit of tightness in my neck and shoulders. I'd developed a kink in my neck this week which meant I couldn't turn my head fully to the left.

Ms Collins opted to use flame and glass cups on my back.

After oil had been rubbed in, I heard a whiff of a flame and a glass cup was popped on my back.

The suction gently pulled my skin into the cup. It didn't hurt, it just felt like someone was trying to grab me by the skin and wouldn't let go. Soon there were glass bulbs all over my back.

Ms Collins used the oil on my back to slide the cups into different positions - which seemed to release some of the tension in my shoulders.

It was quite a relaxing experience and nice to be in a warm room on a cold day.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Ms Collins said cupping was also used to "cup out the cold".

"When people have that lingering feeling of cold, often in either lower backs or bellies ... in improving the circulation and pulling the cold out, often people feel warmer for weeks," she said.

My back was certainly radiating warmth following the treatment.

As I got up, I rolled my shoulders back and found I was moving a lot freer. And when I turned my head to the left the kink was gone.

Ms Collins said I should feel lighter in the middle and upper back.

"I think it's popular because it's simple, immediately effective, very safe, with a trained practitioner, and relatively cheap," she said.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

The treatment left its mark as I had my very own "Phelps tattoo" of purple dots. I felt a bit drained after the treatment and guzzled down a lot of water.

As I sit at my desk I do feel like a weight has been lifted off my shoulders. However, I was given no guarantee that I would start swimming like Phelps.

Save

    Share this article

Latest from Hawkes Bay Today

Hawkes Bay Today

'We have you surrounded': Police stood down after Hawke's Bay stand-off, search continues

Premium
Hawkes Bay Today

Black Ferns: Tui pair on the big bird for matches in South Africa

Hawkes Bay Today

Four crashes in 40 minutes in Hawke's Bay, two seriously injured


Sponsored

Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from Hawkes Bay Today

'We have you surrounded': Police stood down after Hawke's Bay stand-off, search continues
Hawkes Bay Today

'We have you surrounded': Police stood down after Hawke's Bay stand-off, search continues

A police officer could be heard speaking over a loudspeaker at the scene.

17 Jul 04:06 AM
Premium
Premium
Black Ferns: Tui pair on the big bird for matches in South Africa
Hawkes Bay Today

Black Ferns: Tui pair on the big bird for matches in South Africa

17 Jul 04:00 AM
Four crashes in 40 minutes in Hawke's Bay, two seriously injured
Hawkes Bay Today

Four crashes in 40 minutes in Hawke's Bay, two seriously injured

17 Jul 03:11 AM


Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky
Sponsored

Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky

06 Jul 09:47 PM
NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • Hawke's Bay Today e-edition
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Subscribe to the Hawke's Bay Today
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • NZME Events
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP