Revealed! The mystery of the purple dots on Michael Phelps' back

Rio de Janeiro Michael Phelps woke up on the morning of the first race of his fifth Olympic Games with some soreness in his right shoulder At 31 years old the swimming superstar could not afford to have anything slowing him down So he went to a Team USA athletic trainer for some cupping therapy a treatment he has been receiving for years to help relax his muscles and ease sorenessUSAs Michael Phelps competes in the Mens 200m Butterfly Semifinal during the swimming event at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games at the Olympic Aquatics Stadium in Rio de Janeiro PicAFPThe trainer hit me pretty hard with one and left a couple of bruises Phelps said With large purple circles dotting his shoulder and back Phelps delivered a performance for the ages to lead the 4x100meter freestyle relay team to victory giving him his 19th career gold medal Phelps swam the fastest 100 meters of his life a blazing4712 seconds on the second leg of the relay that turned a slim deficit in the race against France into a comfortable lead that teammates Ryan Held and Nathan Adrian were able to hold the rest of the wayThe stirring victory televised in prime time back home in the United States put Phelps back on the podium and thrust cupping therapy into the spotlight It dates back centuries and has enjoyed a bit of a renaissance over the past decade after athletes like Phelps and NFL star DeMarcus Ware and actresses Gwyneth Paltrow and Jennifer Aniston started touting its benefitsResearchers have traced cuppings origins back to China and Greece somewhere around 1500 BC and Team USA gymnast Alex Naddour was among other Olympians who have been seen with the purple marks in Rio And its not just for star athletes Health spas often offer the service for a few hundred dollars and the cups can be purchased online for as little as 15 and applied at homeSome in the medical community believe its nothing but hocus pocus the latest form of snake oil that tricks patients into paying for it again and again Others insist that it aids recovery relaxes muscles and helps an athlete maximize performance Phelps certainly believes in it In the end that may be all that mattersIve done it before meets at pretty much every meet I go to he said The treatment involves applying glass or plastic cups to the area of discomfort and either applying heat or suction to create a vacuum The suction pulls the skin away from the muscle and draws oxygenated blood to the area The suction also is what causes the bruising like giant hickey without the fun that comes with itI havent had bad ones like this in in a while Phelps said on Sunday a day after the relay Steve Hamilton a massage therapist for the Denver Broncos has used the technique for years in working with players He said the biggest benefits include increased circulation decreased muscle tension decreased inflammation increased range of motion and improved blood flowIts effectiveness is because its all part of the bodys natural healing process Hamilton said But cupping helps the body recover faster by keeping the process moving forward Its awesome because its all naturalBut there is a scarcity of accredited studies to prove cuppings efficacy which has led to a fair amount of skepticism Many doctors have called it nonsense and others believe it is no more effective than a placeboRussian state TV after watching more than 100 of its athletes become embroiled in a doping investigation that excluded them from the Rio Games took a dig at Phelps when it branded cupping asyet legal doping in a lengthy feature on the treatmentHamilton said cupping is no such thing It helps enhance the bodys natural neurological and circulatory function thus allowing the body to be pushed and perform at a higher competitive level he saidPhelps even included the process which can be painful in a commercial he did for Under Armour on the rigorous training he puts his body through to get ready to compete When he is competing in an event where victory is measured in fractions of a second any little edge could make the difference If he feels like he feels better Hamilton said thats never a bad thing