Cupping

“Cupping” is an alternative/traditional-Chinese medicine technique of using suction to “pull toxins out of the body.” There’s dry cupping, wet cupping, vacuum cupping, flame cupping, and all of them work equally well, which is to say they don’t. (Cupping also results in broken blood vessels, and with cupping techniques that involve slicing or puncturing the skin before drawing a vacuum, there’s also the risk of infection and scarring.)

Michael Phelps showed up to an Olympic event with cupping bruises all over his back just a couple of days ago, prompting a renewed interest in this medical hoax.

This review of a cupping set is especially bizarre, though, as the reviewer posted a picture of herself tied down to a chair with the cups suctioned onto her legs. As the song goes, “Wet cups, you get cupped.”