Effect of Wet Cupping Therapy on Low Back Pain Severity and Functional Ability among Community Dwelling Older Adults

Abstract

Low back pain (LBP) is a common symptom among older adults and a major cause of functional disability due to its high prevalence and persistence. Pain-related disability affects functional and psychosocial status which leads to poor quality of life of the older adults. Cupping therapy has become common approach used for management of LBP which has several advantages; as it is simple, cost effective, and safe method with low side effects than other current therapeutics. Objective: to determine the effect of wet cupping therapy on low back pain severity and functional ability among community dwelling older adults. Design: A quasi-experimental research design was used in this study. Setting: the orthopedic outpatient clinic of Damanhour National Medical Institute, El-Behaira Governorate, Egypt. Subjects: The study subjects comprised fifty (50) older adults with LBP divided randomly into two matched groups of 25 subjects. Tools: three tools were used for data collection:1) Socio-demographic characteristics and Clinical Data of the Community Dwelling Older Adults with LBP Structured Interview schedule ,2) Iowa Pain Thermometer (IPT), 3) Modified Oswestry Low Back Pain Disability Questionnaire. Results: the wet cupping group had a highly statistical significant reduction in pain severity (P= 0.008) and significant improvement in functional ability (P= 0.001) post cupping therapy compared to pre cupping therapy with a statistically significant difference between the wet cupping and control groups. Conclusion: wet cupping therapy had affected positively the severity of LBP and functional ability among older adults in the cupping group. Recommendations: Coordination with different health care settings and heath care team members to facilitate integration of wet cupping therapy in care of older adults with LBP as an effective treatment method.