Setting fire to your back is fun

Fire cupping is the name given to a bizarre Chinese medical treatment by which glass cups are attached to one’s back and fire is added. The fire creates a vacuum in the cups, causing suction.

Sounds good if you want your back sucked.

Obligatory Wayne’s World quotes:

• “Well, it sure does suck.”
• “It’s sucking my will to live!”

Now for some pics (from Ben’s Blog). First of all, the glass cups attached to the back:

Next, the aftermath. Guantanamo Bay has nothing on this:

So what are the benefits of the procedure? Apparently, it is believed to cleanse toxins, and provide treatment to diseases such as pneumonia and the common cold.

Ben’s Blog has a long article describing the procedure.

My brothers are travelling through China and Mongolia at the time of writing. I don’t know if they were planning to try fire cupping. I doubt it though; they are wimps.