Cupping therapy is one of the treatment modalities of traditional Chinese Medicine which a practitioner puts special cups on your skin to create suction. Cupping is used to enhance circulation and relieve tightness of the muscle. Suction or heat is applied to either a glass or plastic cup and then placed on the problematic areas. The skin and muscle are then pulled into the suction allowing energy and blood to circulate. Through cupping, impurities are drawn to the surface allowing the body to remove those impurities and stimulate local circulation for healing. Bruising is common and the level of bruising reveals how much tension or stagnation has been built up in those areas. Overtime with consistent treatment, there will be an increase in blood flow and decrease of muscle recovery time. That is why many athletes seek cupping treatments to help improve and keep up performance. Cupping is beneficial to anyone who has muscle aches ranging from sitting at a computer desk to running marathons.