Why Were Olympic Athletes & Other Celebs Spotted with Dark Red Circles on Their Bodies?

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.

Swimmer pictured at Tokyo 2020 with circular bruising. (OLI SCARFF/AFP via Getty Images)

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.

Michael Phelps seen with cupping therapy bruises on his shoulders. (Al Bello/Getty Images)

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.

Experts are still unsure of the full benefits of cupping therapy. (Marcel ter Bals/DeFodi Images/DeFodi via Getty Images)

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.

I Stumbled Upon a Hidden Note Exposing Troubling Truths About My Boyfriend — It Forced Me to Leave Immediately

It’s uplifting to witness women supporting each other, whether it’s friends offering help or strangers extending support to those they’ve never met. In this story, a woman quietly left a letter for her ex-boyfriend’s future girlfriend, offering a heads-up about what to anticipate and sharing lessons from her own experience. The new girlfriend shared this moving act of solidarity on Reddit, where she received an outpouring of encouragement and advice from the online community.

She wrote:

“My boyfriend Steve (30m) and I (28f) have been together for 2 years and have been living together for 8 months. I was cleaning our apartment when I found a note in the back of a cabinet that read:

‘Dear Steve’s Future Girlfriend,
I know it’s you reading this because he’d never clean back here. I’m putting this here because I’m leaving him soon and want to warn you about him:
1-He will not clean;
2-He will not listen;
3-He will make everything feel like it’s your fault;
It’s not your fault, he’s just an incompetent man. I’m leaving him, I suggest you do the same.
Best wishes, Natalia'”

She added:

“I read the note and brought it to show to him and hear his response. He immediately ripped it up and said not to listen to it, that she was crazy and untrustworthy. I told him that the fact that he hasn’t found the note in the 5 years since they broke up is a red flag to me because it does mean he’s never cleaned back there and that he has been cleaning less and less since I moved in.

He told me this is just his ex continuing to manipulate and ruin his life, and I was letting it work. We continued to argue along the same lines, and I eventually left to spend the night at a friend’s place.

Steve has been a great boyfriend so far. He gets along with my family. He has given me gifts and flowers and always tells me how much he loves me. He’s not wrong that the cleaning hasn’t really been brought up before, but the note made me realize it had been less and less and that we needed to have a full conversation about this.”

She went on explaining:

“He texted me afterwards saying he’s sorry that I felt like I had to leave, but that it’s a wrong move for me to take a note over our 2-year relationship and to leave him and our pets alone. I don’t know what to do or what to believe right now. I’m contemplating trying to find and reach out to Natalia.

Steve thinks I should come back home and let it go, that his past should not affect our future. He makes it sound like his ex was manipulative and petty throughout their relationship, but I don’t know what to trust.

When we moved in together 8 months ago, the cleaning was 50/50. Since then, he’s been doing things less and less. I have to remind him to do things like to bring his plates to the sink or take out the trash, and I didn’t have to before. The dishes will pile up unless I do them, to the point he’s had leftover food mold on the plates.”

She continued:

“I’m not a confrontational person, so I was just asking him to fix it when it came up. The note made me reflect on it more and try to have an actual full conversation, and I will say I didn’t feel listened to when I talked to him about it.

I tried to use the note to start a conversation about cleaning, and he got so stuck on the fact that I was listening to his ex instead of him, that he wouldn’t listen to what I think are valid concerns. He thinks I’m letting the note have “confirmation bias” so no matter what he says I’ll think he’s in the wrong.

Also, I didn’t leave him permanently, this all happened yesterday and I only spent one night at a friend’s because I didn’t feel like our conversation was going anywhere last night, and he wouldn’t let me sleep until I let it go. I’m going back today and wanted to get advice and feedback before I do.”

Other Redditors chimed in, sharing their own insights and offering advice to her.

  • I’m so glad for you. It wasn’t two wasted years since they taught you a valuable lesson. I’m especially grateful for Natalia! Please tell her we love her for her kind solidarity and witty ways. Absolutely, leave a note — but better yet, leave two. One in the same place (he’ll look there; manipulative narcissists aren’t that dumb), and another in an even less likely spot. Sending you my best. You got this, girl! © occasionalpart / Reddit
  • Well, he’s not cleaning, he’s not listening to you, and he’s making it out to be your fault “for trusting a note over him.” So, it seems the ex’s assessment might be accurate. It doesn’t look like he’s open to discussing his poor housekeeping, and personally, I don’t think you’ll be able to address it now without the note coming up. Ultimately, it’s up to you to decide whether this is something you can tolerate. It seems he hasn’t learned anything from his last relationship. © VonBoo / Reddit
  • You’ve been living together for less than a year, and you’re already having to play mommy, reminding him of basic chores and daily tasks! If Natalia were truly such a manipulative, crazy person, she would have made much harsher and more dramatic accusations than these. © Arya_kidding_me / Reddit
  • It’s almost ironic how easy it would have been for him to shut this entire thing down with the simplest of responses: “Hmm, you’re right, I’ll make sure to clean more.” That would have immediately countered points 2 and 3. But he’d rather be right, and he’d rather play the aggrieved party. You didn’t do anything wrong by trying to have a conversation off the back of that note. His reaction should tell you everything. © Mobius_Stripping / Reddit
  • I’d be willing to bet money that the note is right. He sounds like the kind of man who will stop doing anything the second he decides a woman is fully trapped. The slow tapering off you’re witnessing is him testing the waters. He needs to figure out whether he just needs to waste enough of your time to get to that stage, or whether you need a ring or a baby to feel trapped. © Extension_Drummer_85 / Reddit
  • “Don’t expect to change a man unless he’s in diapers.” This behavior will continue on, he’s gotten away with it before up to a certain point. He wants someone to pick up after him like his mommy.
    Any time a guy says, “My ex is/was crazy,” is a MASSIVE red flag right there. It’s something guys have been saying since the dawn of time to belittle their former partners. He’ll say the same thing about you to his next girlfriend. You have to ask yourself, “Was she crazy, or did he drive her crazy with his behavior and laziness?” I’d leave your own note when you do finally dump him. And reach out to his ex, see what she has to say. © Equal-Brilliant2640 / Reddit

When trust is broken between couples, it often leads to a surge of emotional and psychological turmoil, including feelings of uncertainty and profound confusion. In a different scenario, a woman shared a fascinating story of her own sleuthing skills. She discovered her husband was cheating simply by paying close attention to his breakfast order.

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