OBJECTIVES The aims of this study were to develop a sham cupping device and to validate its use as a placebo control for healthy volunteers. METHODS A sham cupping device was developed by establishing a small hole to reduce the negative pressure after suction such that inner pressure could not be maintained in the cup. We enrolled 34 healthy participants to evaluate the validity of the sham c...

BACKGROUND Though cupping therapy has been used in China for thousands of years, there has been no systematic summary of clinical research on it.This review is to evaluate the therapeutic effect of cupping therapy using evidence-based approach based on all available clinical studies. METHODS We included all clinical studies on cupping therapy for all kinds of diseases. We searched six electro...

A case is reported of skin pigmentation and associated anemia resulting from persistently repeated cupping therapies performed by an unqualified practitioner in South Korea. Almost 30 sessions of excessive cupping therapies with blood loss over two months yielded little benefit but led the patient to admit a hospital and receive blood transfusion for acquired iron deficiency anemia. Skin pigmen...

Some recent studies showed that lymphatic system stimulation is efficacious in the treatment of cellulite. Lymph drainage and micro circulation can be stimulated with cupping therapy. We aimed to investigate the effect of dry moving cupping therapy on the grade of cellulite on thighs. We aimed to investigate the effect of dry moving cupping therapy on the grade of cellulite on thighs. A pre-tes...

BACKGROUND In clinical practice, the differentiation of glaucomatous from non-glaucomatous cupping can be difficult, even for experienced observers. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the role of optical coherence tomography (OCT) in differentiating glaucomatous from non-glaucomatous optic nerve cupping in a cross-sectional pilot study. METHODS Eleven consecutive patients presenting to...

OBJECTIVES To assess the effect of wet cupping on health-related quality of life (HRQOL) of adult patients with chronic medical conditions, who were referred to the Cupping Clinic of King Abdulaziz University Hospital (KAUH), Jeddah, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Methods: A controlled, quasi-experimental study design was carried out among 629 patients referred for cupping from the KAUH Specialty Cli...

This study aimed to test the efficacy of cupping therapy to improve symptoms and quality of life in patients diagnosed with the fibromyalgia syndrome. Participants were randomly assigned to cupping therapy, sham or usual care. Cupping was administered five times at twice weekly intervals on the upper and lower back. The primary outcome measure was pain intensity at day 18. Secondary outcomes in...

Cupping therapy has been used for thousands of years in traditional Chinese medicine for the treatment of several chronic conditions, such as low back pain, chronic arthralgia, radiculopathy and respiratory disease. Dry and wet cupping (with controlled bleeding) are the two main types of cupping therapy. Other subtypes of the treatment are cupping with retention (keeping cups on the skin or acu...