Clinical Experts Statement: The Definition, Prescription, and Application of Cupping Therapy

Abstract

College and university patient population, therapeutic devices, manual techniques, cupping therapy Author Characteristics The first author, Andrew S. Cage, has obtained his International Cupping Therapy Therapist certification and is a member of the International Cupping Therapy Association. Mr. Cage also has several peer-reviewed publications as well as international, national, regional, and local presentations on the use of cupping therapy in sports medicine and rehabilitation. Mr. Cage has presented numerous times on evidence based approaches on the use of cupping therapy and uses cupping therapy extensively in his clinical practice. Further, Brandon Warner and Diana Gallegos, have also received certifications in cupping therapy and myofascial decompression and use cupping therapy in their clinical practice regularly. Both Mr. Warner and Ms. Gallegos have several peer-reviewed publications and presentations at the national, regional, and local levels.

Effect of Dry Cupping on Muscle Strength, Anaerobic Power, Cognitive Function and Mood States of Athletes

“…The criterion for correct DC was that the skin should be pulled up about 1-2 cm into the cup and the skin of the site should be purple [8]. After each intervention, muscle strength of back and leg using a dynamometer (SIHAN, Seoul, Korea) [9,10], anaerobic power using the 30-second Wingate Test [11,12], mood status using Profile of Mood States (POMS) questionnaire [13,14], and cognitive function using Tower of London (TOL) test [15,16] were measured. The collected data were analyzed in SPSS v.16 software by using Shapiro-Wilk test and paired t-test considering a significance level of 0.05.…”

Safety of Applying Cupping Therapy to Treat Musculoskeletal Pathologies

“…One case report of a patient who had been treated with massage resulted in severe radicular pain [22]. While muscular pain is certainly something clinicians must attempt to minimize when performing any treatment, proper cupping therapy training and techniques appear to minimize these concerns [8,16,23].…”

“…One study found that the blister fluid contained proteins that have been shown to play a role in anti-oxidation, tissue repair, and metabolic reactions [27]. While blistering should be avoided through proper clinician training and education, if a blister does occur, normal wound care procedures should be followed [8].…”

“…As with many other modalities, cupping therapy can result in adverse effects for patients. The risk of these events occurring increases when clinicians are improperly trained or use unsafe treatment methods [8,23]. Currently, there is a paucity of high-Copyright © Cage SA RISM.000678.…”

“…A clinical experts' statement was published in 2019 to provide some level of guidance to clinicians looking to use cupping therapy. However, the need for well-designed, rigorous studies is still apparent [8].…”