Suck It Up: Is Cupping Worth It for Pickleball Recovery?
Glance at the shoulders of the players waiting by the paddle rack. Every so often you’ll spot them: dark plum circles, perfectly round, as if someone pressed a coffee mug into the skin and left it there overnight. Cupping went mainstream at the 2016 Rio Olympics, when Michael Phelps swam with the marks across his back, and it has been drifting toward pickleball ever since.
Cupping may make sore muscles feel better for a day or two, but there’s little evidence that it helps you recover any faster. Whether that’s worth your money depends on what you’re buying it for, and on what else that money could buy.
What Happens Under the Cup
A practitioner places glass, plastic, or silicone cups on the skin and creates suction with a hand pump or, in traditional fire cupping, by heating the air inside. The cups pull skin and shallow tissue upward and either stay put for several minutes or get slid across oiled skin. This article covers dry cupping on intact skin. Wet cupping adds small cuts to draw blood, which brings infection and scarring risks that put it in a different category.
Those famous circles are bruises. The marks come from broken capillaries leaking blood under the skin, and nothing toxic is being drawn out of your muscles. How dark they get depends on suction strength, how long the cups stay on, and how easily your blood vessels break, which shifts with age and medication. Blood flow to the skin and shallow tissue rises for a while afterward, though it’s unclear how much of that reaches the deeper muscle you’re trying to loosen.
What the Research Shows
A 2018 systematic review of cupping in athletes couldn’t recommend it or rule it out, because the trials were small and generally low quality. Newer work is less kind. A 2025 randomized trial of 81 recreational runners found that cupping the quadriceps after a run did no better than a sham hands-on treatment for soreness, fatigue, perceived recovery, or jump height. A 2025 meta-analysis comparing dry cupping with placebo cupping for musculoskeletal pain found no clear advantage in the short or long term, though the evidence was very uncertain.
People who swear by it aren’t imagining their relief, though. A session means lying still while someone pays careful attention to the exact spot that aches, with warmth, pressure, and the expectation of feeling better, and any of that can quiet pain signals. Feeling better and recovering faster are two different measurements, and cupping has more support for the first one.
Who Should Think Twice
Dry cupping from a trained practitioner is generally low risk for healthy adults, with bruising, temporary soreness, and skin irritation as the usual side effects. Check with your doctor first if you take blood thinners or daily aspirin, since cupping can damage small blood vessels and bruising may be more extensive. The same goes for thin or fragile skin, diabetes or reduced feeling in the treated area, and a history of blood clots. Never cup directly over varicose veins or broken skin, and ask for pump cups rather than fire cupping to avoid burns.
A persistent ache that cupping temporarily dulls can quietly turn a minor problem into a real injury. Elbow, shoulder, or knee pain that keeps coming back needs a diagnosis before it needs a treatment.
What About the Home Kits?
Amazon is full of inexpensive kits with plastic cups and a hand pump, or soft silicone cups you squeeze onto the skin. They use the same suction, minus a trained eye watching how hard you’re pulling and how long the cups have been on. Too much of either is how people end up with blisters. If you try one, start with silicone cups glided over oiled forearms, thighs, or calves, follow the kit’s directions, and take the cups off if your skin blisters or starts to hurt. Anyone in the higher-risk groups above should skip home cupping entirely.
How Cupping Stacks Up
If the goal is less soreness after a long morning of doubles, cupping has plenty of competition. A 2018 meta-analysis of nearly 100 recovery studies, published in Frontiers in Physiology, found massage was the most effective technique for reducing muscle soreness and perceived fatigue. Easy movement, compression garments, and cold water immersion also helped, while stretching didn’t measurably reduce soreness.
| Option | Evidence for post-play soreness | Typical cost | Keep in mind |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cupping (practitioner) | Weak; no better than sham in recent trials | $40 to $150 per session | Bruising; check first if you take blood thinners |
| Home cupping kit | Weak | $10 to $50 one time | Easy to over-suction and blister |
| Sports massage | Largest soreness reduction in the 2018 review | $75 to $150 per hour, plus tip | Ask for lighter pressure the day after hard play |
| Easy movement the next day | Helpful | Free | A walk, swim, or gentle bike ride, not another long session |
| Compression sleeves or socks | Modest | $15 to $65 per pair | Check with your doctor if you have circulation problems |
| Cold water immersion | Modest | A few dollars of ice for a home tub | Cold shock strains the heart, so get medical clearance first |
| Foam rolling | Modest, short term | $15 to $40 one time; vibrating models up to about $200 | Go easy around bony areas and sore joints |
| Massage gun | Limited | $60 to $650 one time; solid options under $100 | Avoid bony spots, varicose veins, and the neck |
| Stretching after play | No measurable effect on soreness | Free | Still useful for mobility, just not for soreness |
None of these options repair muscle on their own. That work happens while you sleep, and it depends on getting enough protein, ideally spread across your meals. Regular strength training and a sensible playing schedule matter just as much, because tissue that isn’t overloaded has less to recover from.
The Verdict
If you enjoy cupping, can afford it, and aren’t in a higher-risk group, treat it like a massage you get to wear home: a comfort add-on that may ease soreness for a day or two. If easing post-play soreness is the goal, massage has better support, and a walk the next morning costs nothing.
Just don’t let a set of purple circles stand in for a good night’s sleep and a strength routine. Those are the habits that keep you on court next season.