12/31/2025
🩸 It’s not just a bruise—it’s a biological switch.
We’ve all seen the purple circles.
From Olympic swimmers to your favorite CrossFit coach, cupping therapy has been trending for years.
Most people assume it’s just for deep tissue release or pain relief.
But a groundbreaking 2025 study just completely changed how we look at those marks.
Researchers published their findings in PLOS ONE, focusing specifically on university baseball players.
They wanted to see if cupping did more than just loosen tight shoulders.
They split the athletes into groups: one received real "dry cupping" suction (-400 mmHg), and the other got a "sham" version with barely any pressure.
They measured them for 8 weeks during intense preseason conditioning.
The results were wild.
The athletes who got the real cupping didn’t just feel better.
Their bodies physically recovered faster at a nervous system level.
The study found that cupping significantly improved the recovery of the Autonomic Nervous System (ANS).
Specifically, it helped the athletes switch out of "Sympathetic" mode.
That’s your body’s "fight or flight" stress response—the state that burns energy and halts recovery.
And it switched them into "Parasympathetic" mode.
That’s the "rest and digest" state where actual growth and repair happen.
In the high-stress world of athletics, the ability to flip that switch quickly is the difference between burnout and a breakthrough.
So the next time you see those purple circles, don't just think "pain relief."
Think of them as a remote control for your nervous system. đź§
References: Chen, C. L., & Tang, J. S. (2025). Effects of dry cupping on exercise, autonomic activity and sleep in baseball players during preseason and in-season conditioning. PLOS ONE, 20(2), e0319479.
