“拔火罐”風靡里約奧運會

“拔火罐”風靡里約奧運會

Cupping for Glory

在里約奧運會上，泳壇健將邁克爾·菲爾普斯身上的拔火罐印記吸引了全世界的目光

8月8日，當泳壇巨星邁克爾·菲爾普斯在里約奧運會男子4x100米自由泳接力比賽中獲得了他的第19枚奧運金牌時，引起人們關注的不僅是他史無前例的金牌總數，還有在他肩背部的神秘紅色圓點。

When swimming superstar Michael Phelps won his 19th Olympic gold medal on Aug 8 with the US’ victory in the 4x100-meter freestyle relay, what caught people’s attention wasn’t only his unprecedented number of wins, but also the strange red circles on his back and shoulders.

這些圓形印記對于我們中國人來說卻并不神秘——它們是“火罐”療法留下的印記。（在中國）人人都會拔火罐——每當受涼或是肌肉酸痛時，我們的鄰居、父母甚至是我們自己總會嘗試“火罐”療法。

These circles are no mystery to us in China – they are marks left over from cupping therapy. People do it all the time – our neighbors do it, our parents do it and we might try it from time to time when we havea cold or sore muscles.

邁克爾·菲爾普斯在個人社交平臺上曬出自己接受拔火罐治療的照片

但很顯然，西方人對這些印記感到十分困惑。《芝加哥論壇報》以開玩笑的口吻對這些印記做了如下四種猜測：1）某種尼古丁形成的斑；2）十分無聊的文身；3）極其精確的吻痕；4）用于更新這臺水上運動奪金機器內部軟件的端口。而一些人甚至還擔心這是感染寨卡病毒的癥狀。

西方媒體也在大肆報道“火罐”療法，比如英國廣播公司的標題“為什么這么多奧林匹克運動員身上有這些紅色圓形印記？”以及《每日郵報》的“美國隊瘋狂地迷戀一種叫“拔罐”的古老療法”。

一時間，人們對于“火罐”療法的興趣激增。大家都在好奇這是否真的有效以及它是如何起作用的。

美國體操運動員亞歷克斯·納道爾認為這種療法就像是一種魔法。“這就是我今年能夠保持健康的秘密，它比我花在任何其他事情上的錢都來得有效，”他告訴《今日美國》，“它從各種病痛中拯救了我。”

至于“火罐”療法的原理，美國演員格溫妮絲·帕特洛對它做出了很好的解釋。她是媒體報道中提到的眾多“拔罐”療法的粉絲之一，其他還有詹妮弗·安妮斯頓、維多利亞·貝克漢姆和嘎嘎小姐等。

“它促進了那部分區域的血液循環，清潔身體內的能量并且排出毒素，”她告訴《芝加哥論壇報》，“雖然看起來很痛，但事實上這種感覺棒極了，讓人十分放松。”

但是媒體依然對這種療法持懷疑態度，稱目前并沒有科學依據來證明其有效性。盡管如此，英國《衛報》編輯凱特·卡特認為奧林匹克運動員們愿意嘗試這一療法是可以理解的，因為大多數奧運會奪冠都是分毫之爭，而這也意味著任何能夠提高比賽成績的方法，無論多么微不足道，都是有益的。

“就把拔罐當成一種反科學的形式吧，”卡特寫道，“畢竟，大多數運動員都有自己的儀式和迷信——要是畢生的金牌夢實現的過程僅在數分鐘內，你也會嘗試能做到的任何方法，并且在那之后感覺好多了。”(ChinaDaily供稿)

But apparently the Westerners are deeply puzzled by the marks. As a joke, The Chicago Tribune made four wild guesses of what they might be: “a) *nicotine patches of some sort; b) very *bland tattoos; c) extraordinarily precise *hickeys; d) ports used to feed software updates to this gold-medal-winning *aquatic machine.” Some people even fear that they might be a symptom of the Zika virus.

Western media also couldn’t stop reporting about it, with headlines like the BBC’s “Why are so many Olympians covered in large red circles?”and Daily Mail’s “Team USA go crazy for ancient healing technique called cupping”.

All of a sudden, interest in cupping therapy has spiked. People are wondering whether it actually works and how it works.

According to American gymnast Alex Naddour, the therapy works like a magic trick. “That’s been the secret that I have had through this year that keeps me healthy. It’s been better than any money I’ve spent on anything else,” he told USA Today, “It has saved me from a lot of pain.”As for how it works, American actress Gwyneth Paltrow – one of the reported celebrity fans of cupping, in addition to Jennifer Aniston, Victoria Beckham and Lady Gaga – explained it pretty well.

“It gets the blood circulating back through whichever point that is and to, you know, clear the energy and get the *toxins out,” she told The Chicago Tribune, “It looks painful, but actually it feels amazing and it’s very relaxing.”

But the media are still quite skeptical about the therapy, saying there is no scientific evidence to prove its effectiveness. Even so, The Guardian’s editor Kate Carter thinks it’s understandable that Olympians are willing to try it because most Olympic wins are “marginal”, which means any method that could improve performance, however small, is helpful.“Think of cupping as the anti-science version,” wrote Carter, “After all, most athletes have their own rituals and superstitions – and if a lifetime of dreaming of gold came down to a few minutes of your life, you would take every edge you can get too, and feel all the better for it.”