SynthesisBMC complementary and alternative medicine2010
Clinical research evidence of cupping therapy in China: a systematic literature review.
Synthesis in BMC complementary and alternative medicine, 2010. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 49 papers, 5 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
49 citing papers in PubMed, 5 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Effectiveness of self-management of dry and wet cupping therapy for low back pain: A systematic review and meta-analysis.Medicine · 2022Pooled it
- Moving cupping therapy for plaque psoriasis: A PRISMA-compliant study of 16 randomized controlled trials.Medicine · 2020Pooled it
- Complementary therapies for acne vulgaris.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2015Pooled it
- Interventions for treating pain and disability in adults with complex regional pain syndrome.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2013Pooled it
- An updated review of the efficacy of cupping therapy.PloS one · 2012Pooled it
- The sliding cupping therapy as an alternative strategy for treating plaque psoriasis: A randomized controlled trial.Medicine · 2026Trial
- Trial
- Pulsatile dry cupping in patients with osteoarthritis of the knee - a randomized controlled exploratory trial.BMC complementary and alternative medicine · 2012Trial
- Article
- A Promising Approach to Psoriasis Vulgaris Management with N-Acetylcysteine and Vitamin E: Targeting the Interplay of Inflammatory and Oxidative Stress.Biomedicines · 2025Article
- Quantitative evaluation of microenvironmental changes and efficacy of cupping therapy under different pressures based on photoacoustic imaging.Photoacoustics · 2024Article
- Wet-Cupping's Impact on Pancreatitis Induced by Hypertriglyceridemia: A case study and brief literature review.Sultan Qaboos University medical journal · 2024Review
- The impact of wet cupping on haematological and inflammatory parameters in a sample of Jordanian team players.Heliyon · 2024Article
- Utility of Cupping Therapy in Substance Use Disorder: A Novel Approach or a Bizarre Treatment?Cureus · 2023Article
- Disseminated Staphylococcus aureus infection after scarification wet cupping therapy: a case report and literature review.BMC complementary medicine and therapies · 2023Review
- Hijama (wet cupping therapy) enhances oral and dental health by improving salivary secretion volume and pH in adult patients at King Abdul Aziz University Hospital (KAUH), Jeddah, KSA: A controlled trial study.Journal of Taibah University Medical Sciences · 2023Article
- Prevalence and predictors of use of cupping among patients attending a primary care center in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.Journal of family medicine and primary care · 2023Article
- Prevalence of using folk medicine and/or natural products in the treatment of hypertension problems compared with medicinal drugs in KSA.Journal of family medicine and primary care · 2022Article
- Non-Pharmacological Treatments of Psoriasis in Persian Medicine a Narrative Review.Journal of pharmacopuncture · 2022Review
- The effect of wet-cupping therapy (hijama) in modulating autoimmune activity of Hashimoto's thyroiditis: A pilot controlled study.Saudi medical journal · 2022Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
8 authors.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundThough cupping therapy has been used in China for thousands of years, there has been no systematic summary of clinical research on it.This review is to evaluate the therapeutic effect of cupping therapy using evidence-based approach based on all available clinical studies.
methodsWe included all clinical studies on cupping therapy for all kinds of diseases. We searched six electronic databases, all searches ended in December 2008. We extracted data on the type of cupping and type of diseases treated.
results550 clinical studies were identified published between 1959 and 2008, including 73 randomized controlled trials (RCTs), 22 clinical controlled trials, 373 case series, and 82 case reports. Number of RCTs obviously increased during past decades, but the quality of the RCTs was generally poor according to the risk of bias of the Cochrane standard for important outcome within each trials. The diseases in which cupping was commonly employed included pain conditions, herpes zoster, cough or asthma, etc. Wet cupping was used in majority studies, followed by retained cupping, moving cupping, medicinal cupping, etc. 38 studies used combination of two types of cupping therapies. No serious adverse effects were reported in the studies.
conclusionsAccording to the above results, quality and quantity of RCTs on cupping therapy appears to be improved during the past 50 years in China, and majority of studies show potential benefit on pain conditions, herpes zoster and other diseases. However, further rigorous designed trials in relevant conditions are warranted to support their use in practice.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.