What Is Cupping? ‘Big Bang Theory’ Star Kaley Cuoco Is The Latest Celebrity To Try The Trend [PHOTO]

Kaley Cuoco has jumped on the cupping bandwagon. The “Big Bang Theory” actress posted a photo to Instagram showing off large red marks on her back, telling her followers that she’s now a huge fan of the ancient Chinese tradition.

“I jumped on the cupping bandwagon and I liked it,” she captioned a photo of herself with several cupping bruises on her lower back.

Cupping made headlines a few months after swimmer Michael Phelps was spotted with the tell-tale marks all over his chest and torso before a meet at the Rio 2016 Olympics. “I’ve done it before meets, pretty much every meet I go to,” the athlete told the New York Times.

New York physical therapist Michael Mancuso told People magazine in August that cupping is a technique that has been practiced in Chinese culture for decades and it consists of placing a “suction cup-like tool” to apply negative pressure to a person’s underlying sore tissue. Mancuso said cupping isn’t just for athletes, and anybody can try it to help alleviate pain.

“It can be used as a massage technique, it can stretch the tissue out, it can bring inflammation to an area for healing, or even break up scar tissue after surgery,” he told the outlet. He added that that after cupping some people feel temporary pain but most “feel immediate relief, and feel looser with increased ranges or motion.”

The marks or bruises left behind after a cupping technique aren’t generally painful and last anywhere from seven to 10 days.

Other celebrities who are huge fans of cupping are Jennifer Aniston and Gwyneth Paltrow. Aniston was spotted sporting the familiar red marks on her upper back during the 2013 premiere of “Call Me Crazy,” and Paltrow walked the red carpet with the bruises during a 2004 movie premiere. According to E! News, Paltrow tried the treatment to help with back pain.