This year’s Olympics are now in full swing and it’s all eyes on the athletes.
From archery and shooting to athletics and gymnastics, there’s all kind of sports taking place across Paris, France, at the moment.
One fan-favorite sport to watch is the swimming, and this year there’s a whopping 854 athletes from 187 different countries competing.
But there’s a common theme you might have spotted with some of the swimmers and that’s the unusual dark red circles they have on their backs.
While it might look like they’ve had a fight with an octopus and lost, there’s a very different reason for the odd markings.
It turns out that the large spots are from cupping therapy – an ancient healing technique that involves placing cups on the skin to create suction and increase blood flow to the area.
The unconventional method is supposed to help with muscle recovery and is used as a type of deep tissue massage.
Some athletes were spotted with cupping therapy bruises back at the Rio Olympics in 2016, and it’s still seemingly popular now.
Gymnast Alexander Naddour told USA Today back in 2016 that cupping was supposedly the ‘secret’ to his health.
He added: “It’s been better than any money I’ve spent on anything else.”
Away from the Games, basketball player Kyle Singler has also praised cupping therapy.
“The bruises do look more intense than what they actually feel like, but the benefit from it is really great,” he previously insisted.
Singler continued to tell Sports Illustrated: “You’re not necessarily getting the immediate response that you might want but over time it does help with recovery and loosening tissue and stuff like that.”
But does cupping therapy actually work according to experts? It’s seems as if the jury’s still out.
According to Harvard Health, some studies have found that cupping might provide some relief for a number of musculoskeletal and sports-related conditions. The quality of this evidence was ‘limited’, however.
Elsewhere a 2022 review found that wet (as opposed to dry cupping) was effective for lower back pain.
While the bruises people get from cupping are pretty gnarly, the therapy is generally seen as safe to practice – even if people aren’t 100 percent on how affective it is.
“Most experts agree that cupping is safe. As long as those treated don’t mind the circular discolorations (which fade over a number of days or weeks), side effects tend to be limited to the pinch experienced during skin suction,” Harvard Health explains.
“It’s quite unusual that cupping causes any serious problems (though, rarely, skin infections have been reported).”
There you have it, folks.
Baby who weighed 16 pounds in 1983 is now an adult and still known for his huge size
When twenty-four-year-old Patricia Clarke found out she was carrying her second child, in 1983, an amazing adventure started. Her family was notorious for producing enormous babies, so she had a sneaking suspicion that her child would be a little larger than average. However, she had no idea how large her child would end up being.
Kevin Robert Clark is the baby boy Patricia gave birth to. At birth, he was unusually large—more than sixteen pounds! This makes him possibly the largest infant in New Jersey as well as the largest baby ever born at Community Memorial Hospital. Kevin was thankfully healthy even though he was too big for a typical crib and newborn clothes.
People were initially drawn to Kevin because of his size. He even made appearances on TV programs like “Saturday Night Live” and “Good Morning America,” and he was widely discussed across the nation.
But Kevin’s development didn’t end there. He continued to develop, reaching a height of 5 feet 7 inches by the time he was 12 years old. He stood six feet five inches tall in junior high. Kevin found comedy in the fact that others were now enquiring about his height. “I like to joke that I’m 5-foot-21,” he said. I inquire about miniature golf when someone asks if I play basketball.
Kevin is 39 years old and has a height of 6 feet 9 inches. He was in the military before and resides with his 6-foot-6 wife and Great Dane. He claims to have accepted his unusual size and grown accustomed to being larger than nearly everyone else.
Kevin’s life has been an adventure in navigating attention and people’s curiosity, but he appears to be doing well. He’s a fantastic example of living a confident life and accepting what makes you unique. We are very inspired by Kevin’s tale and hope that all of his future pursuits turn out well!
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