Short-term dry cupping improves autonomic nervous activity and sleep quality in university baseball players during a sports season

Abstract

This study aimed to clarify the benefits of short-term cupping for athletes during preseason conditioning (PSC) and in-season conditioning (ISC). Forty university baseball players were recruited. Participants were divided into cupping (dry cupping at −400 mmHg) and sham (dry cupping at −100 mmHg) groups. Cupping was performed on the upper back and shoulders for 15 min, twice a week for 8 consecutive weeks: 4 weeks each during PSC and ISC. Four-week cupping exerted no significant effects on upper-extremity function during PSC or ISC. Exercise tests during PSC and ISC revealed no postintervention changes in peak power, peak oxygen consumption, or anaerobic threshold. However, cupping during PSC improved the postexercise recovery of low-frequency power (LF; P = .013; a heart rate variability component) and that during ISC improved the recovery of the LF/high-frequency power ratio (P = .004) and LF% (P = .037). Cupping during PSC significantly improved the participants’ daytime dysfunction scores on the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (P = .026). The benefits of cupping differ between PSC and ISC. Cupping during PSC and ISC markedly improves the postexercise recovery of autonomic activity and sympathetic activity, respectively. However, cupping enhances sleep quality only during PSC.