New Trials Support the Effectiveness of Cupping Therapy

New Trials Support the Effectiveness of Cupping Therapy

There are many published clinical trials and scientific papers in 2009 about the effectiveness of cupping therapy. Three papers from Germany, South Korea and Iran support the use of cupping therapy and give new scientific evidence to this old therapy.

What is cupping therapy?

Cupping therapy is one of the oldest natural healing therapies in the world, and was a very popular therapy for more than 2500 years. Cupping therapy was used by all civilizations around the world, including the Ancient Egyptians, Greeks and Chinese. It is one of the corner stones of Traditional Chinese Medicine. There are many types of cupping therapy. Wet cupping, herbal cupping, dry cupping and massage cupping are examples of cupping therapy types.

Cupping therapy for carpal tunnel syndrome

The first trial was a German study, published in the Journal of Pain in 2009. The researchers investigated the effect of the cupping therapy as a treatment for the carpal tunnel syndrome. There were 52 participants in this trial. The patients were randomly assigned to either a treatment group or a control group. The treatment group experienced pain relief and a decrease in other symptoms. The researchers concluded that "Cupping therapy may be effective in relieving the pain and other symptoms related to CTS (carpal tunnel syndrome)."1.

Cupping therapy for pain

The second trial was a South Korean study, published in the Journal of Complementary and Alternative Medicine in 2009. The researchers searched 14 medical databases. Cupping therapy trials investigating a pain condition were included. Trials investigating unproven therapy or combining cupping with unproven therapy were excluded. The researchers found seven randomized clinical trials that met the previous inclusion criteria. The researchers concluded that "The results of our systemic review provide some suggestive evidence for the effectiveness of cupping in the management of pain conditions."2.

Cupping therapy for low back pain

The third trial was an Iranian study, published in the Complementary Medicine in Therapies Journal. The researchers investigated the effectiveness of wet cupping therapy for the treatment of nonspecific low back pain. The researchers concluded that "Wet-cupping is associated with greater short- term clinical benefit than usual care. No adverse effects were reported."3.

Conclusion

Cupping therapy is a good natural treatment with a promising effect for many diseases. It is used successfully to treat all types of pain. More randomized controlled trials are needed to assess its effectiveness in other diseases. Please, consult a health care professional before using any type of alternative or complementary medicine therapies.

References

1.Andreas Michalsen, et al., Effects of Traditional Cupping Therapy in Patients with Carpal Tunnel Syndrome: A Randomized Controlled Trial,The Journal of Pain, ,June 2009, Vol. 10, No. 6, pp. 601-608.

2.Jong-In Kim , Myeong Soo Lee , Dong-Hyo Lee , Kate Boddy , and Edzard Ernst -, Cupping for Treating Pain: A Systematic Review, eCAM Advance Access published on May 7, 2009, DOI 10.1093/ecam/nep035.

3.K. Farhadi, D. Schwebel, M. Saeb, M. Choubsaz, R. Mohammadi, A. Ahmadi, The Effectiveness of Wet-cupping for Nonspecific Low Back Pain in Iran: A Randomized Controlled Trial, Complementary Therapies in Medicine, Volume 17, Issue 1,pp. 9-15.