Cupping therapy is a treatment method in which local suction is created on the skin using heated cups, historically believed to draw out illness or restore bodily balance; the practice is now regarded by mainstream medicine as pseudoscientific. Its origin is unclear, but the Greek physician Hippocrates used cupping for internal disease and structural problems as early as the fifth century BC, Roman surgeons applied it for bloodletting, and the Taoist alchemist Ge Hong documented its use in China in the third and fourth centuries AD; the practice was also strongly endorsed within early Islamic medicine and further developed by Muslim physicians. It persisted into the twentieth century, when physician William Osler recommended cupping for pneumonia and acute myelitis, and it has been used in Chinese hospitals as a traditional Chinese medicine modality since the 1950s, though scientific evidence for its effectiveness remains lacking.
Facts
Open Questions
Origin YearNo single founding event: the origin of cupping therapy is explicitly described by the sources as unclear, with independent early practice recorded in ancient Iran, Greece and China; the earliest documented individual practitioner found is Hippocrates in the fifth century BC (see the open question on this entity, question-of edge to origin-of-cupping-therapy). (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cupping_therapy, History section). Classification
StatusDiscontinued or Obsolete 1 Connections
Associated With
Cupping therapy is a technique of traditional Chinese medicine.
Open Questions
Source Wikipedia: Cupping Therapy
Treats
Source Wikipedia: Cupping Therapy
Source Wikipedia: Cupping Therapy
Source Wikipedia: Cupping Therapy
Source Wikipedia: Cupping Therapy
Sources
1. Wikipedia
Wikipedia contributors, Wikimedia Foundationhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cupping_therapy, lead sectionQuote, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cupping_therapy, lead section
Cupping therapy is a pseudoscientific treatment method in which a local suction is created on the skin by using heated cups. As an alternative medicine practice, it is primarily used in Asia, but it is also used in Eastern Europe, the Middle East, and Latin America. There is no c
2. Wikipedia: Cupping Therapy
Wikimedia FoundationHistory section
In ancient Greece, Hippocrates (c. 460, c. 370 BC) used cupping for internal disease and structural problems, and Roman surgeons used it for bloodletting.
- Open Questions: When did cupping therapy originate as a medical practice?
Treats: Psoriasis, Lead: treats Psoriasis
Cupping practitioners attempt to use cupping therapy for a wide array of medical conditions including fevers, chronic low back pain, poor appetite, indigestion, high blood pressure, acne, atopic dermatitis, psoriasis, anemia, stroke rehabilitation, nasal congestion, infertility, and menstrual period cramping.
Treats: Anemia, Lead: treats Anemia
Cupping practitioners attempt to use cupping therapy for a wide array of medical conditions including fevers, chronic low back pain, poor appetite, indigestion, high blood pressure, acne, atopic dermatitis, psoriasis, anemia, stroke rehabilitation, nasal congestion, infertility, and menstrual period cramping.
Treats: Atopic Dermatitis, Lead: treats Atopic Dermatitis
Cupping practitioners attempt to use cupping therapy for a wide array of medical conditions including fevers, chronic low back pain, poor appetite, indigestion, high blood pressure, acne, atopic dermatitis, psoriasis, anemia, stroke rehabilitation, nasal congestion, infertility, and menstrual period cramping.
Treats: Stroke, Lead: treats Stroke
Cupping practitioners attempt to use cupping therapy for a wide array of medical conditions including fevers, chronic low back pain, poor appetite, indigestion, high blood pressure, acne, atopic dermatitis, psoriasis, anemia, stroke rehabilitation, nasal congestion, infertility, and menstrual period cramping.
View the Source Wikidata: Cupping Therapy
Wikidata Q461707, class allow-list match (w-wdresolver-0926)View the Source Open Questions (1 open question)
When did cupping therapy originate as a medical practice?
The origin of cupping therapy is explicitly described by the sources as unclear; Hippocrates used it in ancient Greece by the fifth century BC and independent wet-cupping traditions are attested in ancient Iran, with no single founding event connecting them.
What would resolve this A dated primary source establishing the earliest attested instance of therapeutic suction-cup use, or a specialist historical consensus that no such instance can be recovered.
Medical HistoryWikipedia: Cupping Therapy
Essays About This Entity (1 essay)
Cupping Therapy Across Three Medical Traditions
Cupping Therapy, the subject entity this essay traces across traditions
Read the EssayFrequently Asked Questions
What are the risks of cupping therapy?
Usually not harmful, but bruising, burns, scarring and skin changes can occur, especially with wet and fire cupping.
Cupping is generally not harmful for most people, but there are some risks of harm, especially from wet cupping and fire cupping. Bruising and skin discoloration are among the adverse effects and are sometimes mistaken for child abuse. Local adverse events may include scar formation, burns, linear bruising or streaks (wet cupping), skin ulcers, undesired darkening of the skin, panniculitis, erythema ab igne, induction of the Koebner phenomenon in susceptible individuals with psoriasis, and pain at the cupping site.
Does cupping therapy work?
No conclusive evidence supports its claimed benefits; there is low to moderate evidence for some musculoskeletal pain.
There is no conclusive evidence supporting the claimed health benefits of cupping, and critics have characterized the practice as quackery. The American Cancer Society notes that available scientific evidence does not support claims that cupping has any health benefits. A 2011 review of literature determined that the effectiveness of cupping is currently not well-documented for most conditions. There is low to moderate evidence that cupping can reduce pain associated with musculoskeletal pain and myofascial pain syndrome.
What are the different kinds of cupping?
Dry cupping, fire cupping and wet cupping (hijama), which draws blood from a small skin incision.
Dry cupping involves the application of a heated cup on the skin of the back, chest, abdomen, or buttocks; the cooling of the air is then thought to create a suction effect. Fire cupping involves soaking a cotton ball in almost pure alcohol, lighting it and placing it into the cup and quickly removing it while the cup is placed on the skin. Wet cupping, also known as hijama or medicinal bleeding, is where blood is drawn by local suction from a small skin incision.
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