Rio. And its not just for star athletes. Health spas often offer the service for a few hundred dollars and the cups can be purchased online for as little as $15 and applied at home.Some in the me

PLAYER OF THE WEEK Evelyn Akhator ? Kentucky Forward ? Senior ? Lagos, NigeriaStarted her senior season where she left off last year, recording a double-double in each of Kentuckys first two games, including a career night against Albany, a team that advanced to the second round of the NCAA Tournament last season and returned three starters.Against Albany, Akhator had a career-high 28 points with a career-high 12 defensive rebounds. In total she had 13 rebounds, while her four blocks against the Great Danes were one off her career best.Against highly ranked Miami (Fla.), Akhator scored 18 points with 10 rebounds, including 16 points in the first half to power UK to a nine-point lead at halftime.Akhator is the first UK player to record back-to-back double-doubles to start a season since 2009-10.She now has 15 career double-doubles, which is tied for the ninth most double-doubles in school history.Statsvs. #14 Miami (Fla.): 18 pts, 10 reb, 1 ast, 2 blk, 2 stl?vs. Albany: 28 pts, 13 reb, 4 ast, 1 stlFRESHMAN OF THE WEEK Jordan Lewis ? Alabama Guard ? Windermere, Fla.Top-scoring freshman, and the only freshman to rank in the top 25, in the SEC with an average of 16.0 points per game, good for 14th place.Only freshman in the SEC ranked in several categories, including rebounding (12th), field goal percentage (.565) and minutes played (30th).In her Crimson Tide debut, just missed out on a double-double as she finished with 11 points and eight rebounds, in addition to four assists and four steals. Lewis eight rebounds and four assists were both game highs.Backed that performance up with an even better one as she led all scorers with 21 points in the game against Mississippi Valley State.Lewis shot 66.7 percent, hitting eight of her 12 attempts from the floor, in Monday nights contest versus the Devilettes.Statsvs. New Orleans: 11 pts, 9 reb, 4 ast, 4 stl?vs. Miss. Valley State: 21 pts, 7 reb, 2 ast, 2 stl RIO DE JANEIRO -- Michael Phelps woke up on the morning of the first race of his fifth Olympic Games with some soreness in his right shoulder.At 31 years old, the swimming superstar could not afford to have anything slowing him down. So he went to a Team USA athletic trainer for some cupping therapy, a treatment he has been receiving for years to help relax his muscles and ease soreness.The trainer hit me pretty hard with one and left a couple of bruises, Phelps said.With large purple circles dotting his shoulder and back, Phelps delivered a performance for the ages to lead the 4x100-meter freestyle relay team to victory, giving him his 19th career gold medal. Phelps swam the fastest 100 meters of his life, a blazing 47.12 seconds on the second leg of the relay that turned a slim deficit in the race against France into a comfortable lead that teammates Ryan Held and Nathan Adrian were able to hold the rest of the way.The stirring victory -- televised in prime time back home in the United States -- put Phelps back on the podium and thrust cupping therapy into the spotlight. It dates back centuries and has enjoyed a bit of a renaissance over the past decade after athletes like Phelps and NFL star DeMarcus Ware and actresses Gwyneth Paltrow and Jennifer Aniston started touting its benefits.Researchers have traced cuppings origins back to China and Greece somewhere around 1500 B.C., and Team USA gymnast Alex Naddour was among other Olympians who have been seen with the purple marks in Rio. And its not just for star athletes. Health spas often offer the service for a few hundred dollars and the cups can be purchased online for as little as $15 and applied at home.Some in the medical community believe its nothing but hocus pocus, the latest form of snake oil that tricks patients into paying for it again and again. Others insist that it aids recovery, relaxes muscles and helps an athlete maximize performance.Phelps certainly believes in it. In the end, that may be all that matters.Ive done it before meets at pretty much every meet I go to, he said.The treatment involves applying glass or plastic cups to the area off discomfort and either applying heat or suction to create a vacuum.dddddddddddd The suction pulls the skin away from the muscle and draws oxygenated blood to the area. The suction also is what causes the bruising, like giant hickey without the fun that comes with it.I havent had bad ones like this in in a while, Phelps said on Sunday, a day after the relay.Steve Hamilton, a massage therapist for the Denver Broncos, has used the technique for years in working with players. He said the biggest benefits include increased circulation, decreased muscle tension, decreased inflammation, increased range of motion and improved blood flow.Its effectiveness is because its all part of the bodys natural healing process, Hamilton said. But cupping helps the body recover faster by keeping the process moving forward. Its awesome because its all natural.But there is a scarcity of accredited studies to prove cuppings efficacy, which has led to a fair amount of skepticism. Many doctors have called it nonsense, and others believe it is no more effective than a placebo.Russian state TV, after watching more than 100 of its athletes become embroiled in a doping investigation that excluded them from the Rio Games, took a dig at Phelps when it branded cupping as-yet legal doping in a lengthy feature on the treatment.Hamilton said cupping is no such thing.It helps enhance the bodys natural neurological and circulatory function, thus allowing the body to be pushed and perform at a higher competitive level, he said.Phelps even included the process, which can be painful, in a commercial he did for Under Armour on the rigorous training he puts his body through to get ready to compete. When he is competing in an event where victory is measured in fractions of a second, any little edge could make the difference.If he feels like he feels better, Hamilton said, thats never a bad thing.---(equals)AP National Writer Paul Newberry and AP Sports Writers Arnie Stapleton and James Ellingworth contributed to this report. China Jerseys Cheap NFL Black Jerseys Wholesale NFL Autographed Jerseys NFL Jerseys Cheap Jerseys NFL Cheap Wholesale Nike NFL Jerseys Wholesale NFL T-shirts Camo China NFL Jerseys Wholesale Jerseys China Cheap NFL Autographed Jerseys Wholesale Jerseys 2019 Wholesale Nike NFL Jerseys Wholesale Jerseys 2019 Cheap Nike NFL Jerseys China NFL Hoodies ' ' '