The Role of Cupping Therapy in Pain Management: A Literature Review

Asma Al-Shidhani, Abdulaziz Al-Mahrezi · Pain Management: Practices, Novel Therapies and Bioactives · 2020 September 25

Objective

In this paper, a review of the literature will be presented to determine its potential benefits in pain management particularly in musculo-skeletal conditions such as low back and neck pain.

Conclusions

Cupping therapy is an ancient complementary medicine practice which has been used for thousands of years for a variety of common medical problems. The current evidence is suggesting that cupping therapy may be effective in treating common chronic painful conditions for a short period. Yet, most of available studies have major limitations like small sample size, and different outcome assessment tools, duration of treatment, and treatment regimens. Publication bias is another important drawback, as most of the available studies were conducted in a single country. Future good quality, multicenter clinical trials utilizing standardized protocols are needed.

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