Jessica Herman

Just as Madonna passes on the tradition of wearing red Kaballah bracelets and drinking Kaballah water to Britney Spears, some celebrities have a tendency to sport signs of their spiritual practices on their sculpted bodies. Making a recent cameo on Gwyneth Paltrow's back in the form of six discolored circles, cupping is the latest process that's new in the popular press, and old to Eastern medical practitioners.

"It's almost a reverse massage," says Dan Plovanich, describing the treatment typically used in conjunction with acupuncture to ease pain, digestion or congestion. "Cupping draws in and out. It pulls blood into a spasm and oxygen relaxes the spasm."

Plovanich, of Southport's Chicago Acupuncture Clinic, holds out the cup, a fist-sized glass bubble with one open end, encircled by a quarter-inch-wide flat lip that lies on the skin. He dips a swab of cotton in and out of the cup to make a suction of the bubble, which he quickly gloms onto the skin for as long as fifteen minutes. The painless sensation of the skin, sucking up about a half-inch inside the cup, feels like confined pressure.

"What people saw on Gwyneth was her own toxicity," he says. The visible trace of toxins resembles a bruise and disappears within twenty-four to forty-eight hours.

Watching the blood rush to the skin's surface is easily the most unsettling part of the experience. Fortunately, it's generally practiced on the back. Plovanich points to a poster on his wall that illustrates the pair of points that correspond to each organ. A patient having kidney, lungs and spleen treatment, for instance, will have three cups on either side of the back.

This acupuncturist knows cupping from studying Chinese medicine, but he's practiced on Greek, Polish and Russian patients who say they know it from the `Old Country.' Most likely predating writing, cupping was originally performed using antlers to draw puss from injuries.

"I can say cupping in four languages...In Russian and Polish, it's called `bubbles,'" he refers to the cup, and stumbling over the spelling adds, "It's `venduza' in Greek and `ventosa' in Spanish."

The cost of the treatment varies but averages around $60 per session, including acupuncture, heat and lineament.

(2004-07-27)

Also by Jessica Herman

Fancy fleas
You'll be hard-pressed to find the shabbiness that typifies the everyday flea market on the ninth floor of Marshall Field's
(2004-07-13)

iSpin
Inside the Loop's W hotel, hipsters and businessmen cool in a neon blue light, sipping apple iTinis and barely gyrating to DJ Chris Walsh's homemade beat
(2004-07-13)

Sexy city
How we rank in "America's Best Cities For Singles"
(2004-07-06)

Crayon politics
An adolescent boy points to a line drawing of George W. dressed as a cheerleader...
(2004-06-29)

House of house
(2004-06-16)

The Vintage Life
(2004-05-18)

Shopping around
(2004-05-18)

The cool hunt is on
(2004-05-12)

Fraying and finishing
(2004-05-05)

War zone
(2004-04-27)

about Newcitychicago | about Newcity magazine | advertising | privacy policy | FAQ | employment