Cupping therapy is a term given to therapies using sucking cups applied to certain skin areas for different therapeutic purposes. Suction applied to cups is an external factor that can be created and controlled according to the therapeutic indications. Cupping therapy is a simple, effective, economic, time-saving and synergistic line of treatment. Cupping therapy has a deep-rooted history that is shared by different human civilizations. Dry cupping therapy (DCT) is a one-suction step technique (single S technique), where cups are applied to the skin for the purpose of sucking skin into cups. [cupping (suction step = pressure-dependent filtration of fenestrated skin capillaries epithelium beneath skin barrier)]
Disease conditions are mostly characterized by abnormal blood chemistry. Different causative pathological substances-CPS (disease-causing substances and disease-related substances) are present in the blood and interstitial fluids and cannot be excreted by physiological mechanisms e.g. excess serum iron and ferritin in thalassemia.
[A]. External negative pressure inside suction cups sucks skin into cups leading to formation of skin uplifting (skin dome). [B]. Inside skin uplifting, filtration of skin capillaries (pressure-dependent and size-dependent filtration and excretion) takes place. Collected fluids (filtered capillary fluids containing different causative pathological substances + collected interstitial fluids containing different causative pathological substances) start to accumulate inside the skin uplifting (skin dome) and approach the most superficial epidermal layer of the skin but cannot get out due to the presence of skin barrier. Small particles can be filtered through capillary pores or any small opening pore.
Restoration of homeostasis after complete or partial significant excretion of disease CPS. New interstitial fluid is formed by filtration at the arterial ends of capillaries and is reabsorbed at the venous capillary ends.
Cupping therapy effectively treated musculoskeletal pain conditions as lumbar disc herniation, cervical spondylosis, brachialgia paraesthetica nocturna, persistent non-specific low back pain, fibrositis, firomyalgia, chronic non-specific neck pain, chronic knee osteoarthritis and other pain conditions e.g. pain of dysmenorrhea and pain of acute gouty arthritis. Cupping therapy effectively treated neurological conditions as headache and migraine, acute trigeminal neuralgia and carpal tunnel syndrome. Cupping therapy was also effective in treating metabolic conditions e.g. acute gouty arthritis, hyperlipidemia and hypercholesterolemia. Cupping therapy was effective in treating respiratory diseases e.g. allergic rhinitis, asthma and asthmatic bronchitis. Moreover, cupping therapy was effective also in treating some cardiovascular diseases e.g. systolic hypertension, circulatory overload, heart failure, arrhythmia, myocardial infarction (in experimental animals where WCT decreased the size of the cardiac infarct). Cupping therapy was effective in treating viral infections e.g. herpes zoster, viral hepatitis and bacterial infections e.g. cellulitis. Cupping therapy was effective in treating autoimmune diseases e.g. RA, vitiligo and other disease conditions e.g. secondary amenorrhoea and stroke rehabilitation. Cupping therapy was reported to reduce serum iron and ferritin in healthy subjects.
American Journal of Medical and Biological Research, 2014, Vol. 2, No. 2, 46-71. Available online at http://pubs.sciepub.com/ajmbr/2/2/3 © Science and Education Publishing DOI:10.12691/ajmbr-2-2-3