Cupping therapy

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Cupping therapy
Cupping set, London, England Wellcome L0057395.jpg
Cupping and bloodletting set, from London, dating from 1860–1875
Alternative therapy

Dry cupping

Dry cupping involves the application of a heated cup on the skin of the back, chest, abdomen, or buttocks. [1] The cooling of the air is then thought to create a suction effect. Bamboo and other materials are sometimes used as alternatives to glass cups. [1]

Fire cupping

A person receiving fire cupping Fire Cupping.jpg
A person receiving fire cupping

Fire cupping involves soaking a cotton ball in almost pure alcohol. The cotton is clamped by a pair of forceps and lit via match or lighter, and, in one motion, placed into the cup and quickly removed, while the cup is placed on the skin. The fire heats the air in the cup which, after cooling reduces in volume creating a negative pressure inside the cup. The cup is then quickly placed onto the body and the negative pressure "sucks" the skin up. Massage oil may be applied to create a better seal as well as allow the cups to glide over muscle groups (e.g. trapezius, erectors, latissimus dorsi, etc.) in an act called "gliding cupping" or "sliding cupping". Dark circles may appear where the cups were placed because of capillary rupture under the skin. There are documented cases of burns caused by fire cupping. [31] [32]

Wet cupping

Wet cupping is also known as Hijama (Arabic : حجامة lit. "sucking") or medicinal bleeding, where blood is drawn by local suction from a small skin incision. [33]

The first reported usages are found in the Islamic hadith, sayings attributed to or describing the actions of the Islamic prophet Muhammad. [34] [35] Hadith from Muhammad al-Bukhari, Muslim ibn al-Hajjaj Nishapuri and Ahmad ibn Hanbal support its recommendation and use by Muhammad. [36] As a result, wet cupping has remained a popular remedy practiced in many parts of the Muslim world. [37]

In Finland, wet cupping has been done since the 15th century, and it is done traditionally in saunas. The cups were made of cattle horns with a valve mechanism inside to create a partial vacuum by sucking the air out. [38] Cupping is still practiced in Finland as part of relaxing and/or health regimens. [39]

The points used in wet and dry cupping are varied and intended to correspond to areas of pain and blockage. Over the years treatment plans have been created but, due to their holistic nature, the points used may vary depending on the individual. [40] [41]

Traditional Chinese medicine

Woman receiving fire cupping at a roadside business in Haikou, Hainan, China Fire cupping in Haikou - 02.JPG
Woman receiving fire cupping at a roadside business in Haikou, Hainan, China

In Chinese, cupping is known as "pulling-up jars" (Chinese :拔罐; pinyin :báguàn). According to traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), cupping is done to dispel stagnation (stagnant blood and lymph), thereby improving qi flow, [42] to treat respiratory diseases such as the common cold, pneumonia and bronchitis. Cupping is used on the back, neck, shoulder, and other musculoskeletal conditions. Its advocates claim it has other applications as well. [42] Cupping is not advised, in TCM, over skin ulcers or to the abdominal or sacral regions of pregnant women. [43]

Society and culture

Cupping has gained publicity in modern times due to its use by American sport celebrities including National Football League player DeMarcus Ware and Olympians Alex Naddour, Natalie Coughlin, and Michael Phelps. [44] Medical doctor Brad McKay wrote that Team USA was doing a great disservice to their fans who might "follow their lead", calling cupping an "ancient (but useless) traditional therapy." [45] Steven Novella noted "It is unfortunate that elite athletics, including the Olympics, is such a hotbed for pseudoscience." [46]

There is a description of cupping in George Orwell's essay "How the Poor Die", where he was surprised to find the antiquated practice applied to another patient in a Paris hospital. [47] In the 1964 Hollywood film, Zorba the Greek cupping is depicted with the character Zorba, played by Anthony Quinn, performing it on the character played by Lila Kedrova.[ citation needed ]

The perceived benefits of cupping have often been perpetuated by celebrities and athletes who use these therapeutic interventions in their daily lives. Professional swimmer Michael Phelps received publicity during the 2016 Olympics for the purple bruises evident on his back resulting from cupping. He has been known to "do it before every meet he goes to to "speed up recovery". [48] Celebrity endorsements such as these may bias individuals to feel benefits from the practice.

History

An illustration from the medical textbook Exercitationes practicae, published in 1694, shows a man undergoing cupping on his buttocks. F. Dekkers, Exercitationes practicae, Wellcome L0002320.jpg
An illustration from the medical textbook Exercitationes practicae, published in 1694, shows a man undergoing cupping on his buttocks.

The origin of cupping is unclear. Iranian traditional medicine uses wet-cupping practices, with the belief that cupping with scarification may eliminate scar tissue, and cupping without scarification would cleanse the body through the organs. [49]

In ancient Greece, Hippocrates (c. 460 – c. 370 BC) used cupping for internal disease and structural problems, and Roman surgeons used it for bloodletting. [50] [51] The method was highly recommended by Islamic Prophet Muhammad [35] and hence well-practiced by Muslim scientists who elaborated and developed the method further. Consequently, this method in its multiple forms spread into medicine throughout Asian and European civilizations. In China, the earliest use of cupping that is recorded is from the Taoist alchemist and herbalist Ge Hong (281–341 AD). [52] Cupping was also mentioned in Maimonides' book on health and was used within the Eastern European Jewish community. [53] William Osler recommended its use for pneumonia and acute myelitis in the early twentieth century. [2]

The practice has been used in hospitals in China since the 1950s as a traditional Chinese medicine modality. [14]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Vashi, NA; Patzelt, N; Wirya, S; Maymone, MBC; Zancanaro, P; Kundu, RV (July 2018). "Dermatoses caused by cultural practices: Therapeutic cultural practices". Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology. 79 (1): 1–16. doi:10.1016/j.jaad.2017.06.159. PMID   29908818. S2CID   49268995.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Lilly, E; Kundu, RV (April 2012). "Dermatoses secondary to Asian cultural practices". International Journal of Dermatology. 51 (4): 372–379. doi:10.1111/j.1365-4632.2011.05170.x. PMID   22435423. S2CID   32407869.
  3. 1 2 Mohamed, Ayman A.; Zhang, Xueyan; Jan, Yih-Kuen (2023-01-01). "Evidence-based and adverse-effects analyses of cupping therapy in musculoskeletal and sports rehabilitation: A systematic and evidence-based review". Journal of Back and Musculoskeletal Rehabilitation. 36 (1): 3–19. doi:10.3233/BMR-210242. ISSN   1053-8127. PMID   35848010.
  4. 1 2 3 MD, Robert H. Shmerling (2016-09-30). "What exactly is cupping?". Harvard Health. Retrieved 2025-01-02.
  5. ↑ Crislip, Mark (24 December 2014). "Acupuncture Odds and Ends". Science-Based Medicine. Retrieved 8 August 2016.
  6. 1 2 Hall, Harriet (21 August 2012). "Quackery and Mumbo-Jumbo in the U.S. Military". Slate.
  7. 1 2 "What Is Cupping? Does It Work?". Cedars-Sinai. Retrieved 2025-01-02.
  8. 1 2 "Cupping Therapy: The Pros, Cons and How It Works | Banner". www.bannerhealth.com. 2022-11-03. Retrieved 2025-01-02.
  9. ↑ Russell J; Rovere A, eds. (2009). "Cupping". American Cancer Society Complete Guide to Complementary and Alternative Cancer Therapies (2nd ed.). American Cancer Society. pp.  189–191. ISBN   9780944235713.
  10. ↑ Lee, MS; Kim, JI; Ernst, E (March 2011). "Is cupping an effective treatment? An overview of systematic reviews". Journal of Acupuncture and Meridian Studies. 4 (1): 1–4. doi: 10.1016/s2005-2901(11)60001-0 . PMID   21440874.
  11. ↑ Chen, B; Li, MY; Liu, PD; Guo, Y; Chen, ZL (July 2015). "Alternative medicine: an update on cupping therapy". QJM: Monthly Journal of the Association of Physicians. 108 (7): 523–525. doi: 10.1093/qjmed/hcu227 . PMID   25399022.
  12. ↑ Cao H, Yang G, Wang Y, Liu JP, Smith CA, Luo H, Liu Y (January 2015). "Complementary therapies for acne vulgaris". The Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews (Systematic Review & Meta-Analysis). 1 (1): CD009436. doi:10.1002/14651858.CD009436.pub2. PMC   4486007 . PMID   25597924.
  13. ↑ Kim, J. I., Lee, M. S., Lee, D. H., Boddy, K., & Ernst, E. (2011). Cupping for treating pain: a systematic review. Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine, 2011.
  14. 1 2 Cao, H; Li, X; Liu, J (2012). "An updated review of the efficacy of cupping therapy". PLOS ONE. 7 (2): e31793. Bibcode:2012PLoSO...731793C. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0031793 . PMC   3289625 . PMID   22389674.
  15. ↑ Singh, Simon; Ernst, Edzard (2008). Trick or Treatment. Transworld Publishers. p. 368. ISBN   978-0-552-15762-9.
  16. ↑ Gorski, David (23 May 2011). "Fashionably toxic". Science-Based Medicine. Retrieved 12 May 2020.
  17. ↑ Colquhoun, David (10 August 2016). "Cupping: bruises for the gullible, and other myths in sport". DC's Improbable Science. Retrieved 12 May 2020.
  18. ↑ Salzberg, Steven (13 May 2019). "The Ridiculous And Possibly Harmful Practice Of Cupping". Forbes. Retrieved 12 May 2020.
  19. ↑ Hamblin, James (9 August 2016). "Please, Michael Phelps, Stop Cupping". The Atlantic. Retrieved 12 May 2020.
  20. ↑ Crislip, Mark (24 December 2014). "Acupuncture Odds and Ends". Science-Based Medicine. Retrieved 8 August 2016.
  21. ↑ Hall, Harriet (31 July 2012). "Therapy or Injury? Your Tax Dollars at Work". Science-Based Medicine. Retrieved 8 August 2016.
  22. ↑ "Revealed – Why some Olympic athletes have those little red marks on them". Irish Independent. 8 August 2016.
  23. ↑ Gorski, David (July 1, 2016). "What's the harm? Cupping edition". Respectful Insolence. Science-Based Medicine. Retrieved 8 August 2016.
  24. ↑ Cheang, Sopheng (2016-08-10). "Cupping and coining: I did it long before Phelps". AP News. Retrieved 2023-08-19. The Cambodian Health Ministry does not advocate cupping, and warns that it could be a health risk. Health Ministry spokesman Ly Sovann told me that the practice is not known to cure any illnesses, and in fact, can be dangerous for people with high blood pressure or heart problems. Still, the practice is not banned in the country because it is almost a way of life for Cambodians, he said.
  25. ↑ "Cupping". NCCIH. 8 November 2018.
  26. ↑ Mohamed, Ayman A.; Zhang, Xueyan; Jan, Yih-Kuen (2023). "Evidence-based and adverse-effects analyses of cupping therapy in musculoskeletal and sports rehabilitation: A systematic and evidence-based review". J Back Musculoskelet Rehabil. 36 (1): 3–19. doi: 10.3233/BMR-210242 . PMID   35848010. S2CID   250511730.
  27. ↑ Wood, Sarah; Fryer, Gary; Tan, Liana Lei Fon; Cleary, Caroline (October 2020). "Dry cupping for musculoskeletal pain and range of motion: A systematic review and meta-analysis". J Bodyw Mov Ther. 24 (4): 503–18. doi:10.1016/j.jbmt.2020.06.024. PMID   33218554. S2CID   225353128.
  28. 1 2 Charles, Derek; Hudgins, Trey; MacNaughton, Josh; Newman, Eric; Tan, Joanne; Wigger, Michael (July 2019). "A systematic review of manual therapy techniques, dry cupping and dry needling in the reduction of myofascial pain and myofascial trigger points". J Bodyw Mov Ther. 23 (3): 539–46. doi:10.1016/j.jbmt.2019.04.001. PMID   31563367. S2CID   132721136.
  29. ↑ "What is cupping therapy". WebMD. Retrieved 15 August 2016.
  30. ↑ Shaban, Tamer (2013). Cupping Therapy Encyclopedia. CreateSpace. p. 29. ISBN   978-1494780517.
  31. ↑ Iblher, N.; Stark, B. (2007). "Cupping treatment and associated burn risk: a plastic surgeon's perspective". J Burn Care Res. 28 (2): 355–358. doi:10.1097/BCR.0B013E318031A267. PMID   17351459.
  32. ↑ Sagi, A.; Ben-Meir, P.; Bibi, C. (Aug 1988). "Burn hazard from cupping--an ancient universal medication still in practice". Burns Incl Therm Inj. 14 (4): 323–325. doi:10.1016/0305-4179(88)90075-7. PMID   3224303.
  33. ↑ Albinali, Hajar (June 2004). "Traditional Medicine Among Gulf Arabs Part II – Blood Letting". Heart Views. 5 (2): 74–85. Archived from the original on 11 September 2007.
  34. ↑ Rippin, Andrew; Knappert, Jan (1986). Textual Sources for the Study of Islam. Manchester University Press. p. 78. ISBN   978-0-7190-1884-8.
  35. 1 2 Qayyim Al-Jauziyah (2003). Abdullah, Abdul Rahman (formerly Raymond J. Manderola) (ed.). Healing with the Medicine of the Prophet. Darussalam. ISBN   978-9960892917. Indeed, the best of remedies you have is hijama , and if there was something excellent to be used as a remedy then it is hijama.
  36. ↑ Sunan Abu Dawood , 11:2097, 28:3848, Sahih Muslim , 26:5467, 10:3830, Sahih al-Bukhari , 7:71:584, 7:71:602
  37. ↑ El-Wakil, Ahmed (9 December 2011). "Observations of the popularity and religious significance of blood-cupping (al-ḥijāma) as an Islamic medicine". Contemporary Islamic Studies. 2. Hamad bin Khalifa University Press. doi:10.5339/cis.2011.2.
  38. ↑ Kaups, Matti (1976). "A Finish Savusauna in Minnesota" (PDF). Minnesota History (Spring). Minnesota Historical Society: 11–20. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2016-07-05. Retrieved 2018-09-19.
  39. ↑ Burns, Monique (30 January 2012). "Finland's Magnificent Obsession". Travel Squire. Retrieved 12 June 2023. ...a cupping session – a recently revived, if archaic procedure, during which a therapist uses a cupping hatchet to make small cuts in your back and places glass cups fitted with bulb syringes over the cuts to draw out 'bad blood' and release 'feel-good' endorphins. Cupping is considered perfectly safe and aficionados say the procedure energizes them, but it's definitely not for germophobes or the squeamish.
  40. ↑ Points, Hijama (11 July 2023). "Hijama Points by Ailment". Hijama Points. Retrieved 11 July 2023.
  41. ↑ Osman-Latib, Feroz (2019). Clinical Manual of Hijama Therapy. EDI Publishers. ISBN   978-0991145560.
  42. 1 2 State Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine and Pharmacy, Advanced Textbook on Traditional Chinese Medicine and Pharmacology, Volume IV, 1997 New World Press, Beijing
  43. ↑ Chinese Acupuncture and Moxibustion (Revised Edition), Xingnong, Foreign Languages Press, Beijing, China, 1987, p. 370.
  44. ↑ Reynolds, Gretchen; Crouse, Karen (August 8, 2016). "What Are the Purple Dots on Michael Phelps? Cupping Has an Olympic Moment". Well. The New York Times. Retrieved 8 August 2016.
  45. ↑ McKay, Brad (August 9, 2016). "Why Team USA's use of cupping therapy really sucks". News.com.au. Retrieved 9 August 2016.
  46. ↑ Novella, Steven (August 10, 2016). "Cupping – Olympic Pseudoscience". Science Based Medicine.
  47. ↑ Orwell, George (November 1946). "How the Poor Die". Now. Retrieved 10 August 2016. As I lay down I saw on a bed nearly opposite me a small, round-shouldered, sandy-haired man sitting half naked while a doctor and a student performed some strange operation on him. First, the doctor produced from his black bag a dozen small glasses like wine glasses, then the student burned a match inside each glass to exhaust the air, then the glass was popped onto the man's back or chest and the vacuum drew up a huge yellow blister. Only after some moments did I realize what they were doing to him. It was something called cupping, a treatment that you can read about in old medical textbooks but which till then I had vaguely thought of as one of those things they do to horses.
  48. ↑ Reynolds, Gretchen; Crouse, Karen (8 August 2016). "What Are the Purple Dots on Michael Phelps? Cupping Has an Olympic Moment". The New York Times . New York Times. Retrieved 22 March 2020.
  49. ↑ Nimrouzi M; Mahbodi A; Jaladat AM; Sadeghfard A; Zarshenas MM (2014). "Hijama in traditional Persian medicine: risks and benefits". J Evid Based Complementary Altern Med. 19 (2): 128–136. doi:10.1177/2156587214524578. PMID   24647093. S2CID   7387100.
  50. ↑ Chirali, Ilkay Z. (2014-06-27). Traditional Chinese Medicine Cupping Therapy - E-Book. Elsevier Health Sciences. p. 18. ISBN   978-0-7020-5834-9.
  51. ↑ Baker, Patricia A. (2013-09-30). The Archaeology of Medicine in the Greco-Roman World. Cambridge University Press. p. 74. ISBN   978-1-107-29213-0.
  52. ↑ Dharmananda, Subhuti. "Cupping". itmonline.org. Institute for Traditional Medicine. Archived from the original on 2023-03-06. Retrieved 2016-08-10.
  53. ↑ Ingall, Marjorie (2016-08-11). "Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Cupping – and Some Stuff You Probably Didn't". Tablet Magazine. Retrieved 2016-08-14.
Cupping therapy
Chinese name
Traditional Chinese 拔罐
Simplified Chinese 拔罐
Transcriptions
Standard Mandarin
Hanyu Pinyin bá guàn
Bopomofo ㄅㄚˊㄍㄨㄢˋ
Wade–Giles pa2 kuan4
Wu
Romanization baq8 kuoe5 (bʌʔ12 kuø34)
Hakka
Pha̍k-fa-sṳ Phat-kon
Yue: Cantonese
Yale Romanization baht gun
Jyutping bat6 gun3
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