Cupping Therapy

This paper was first published and presented by the author to The 4th International TCM Congress (PEFOTS) Manchester, England 11-13th June 2004.

For many years I have looked for academic papers that will show me a “scientific proof” of the Cupping Therapy and its effect upon blood, if any. As to date no such work was forthcoming, therefore I have decided to organise a small trial myself. This involved patients with various complaints/conditions and a biochemist with modern lab facilities.  Once I raised the necessary funds (through friends and relatives) I undertook this trial with complete and utter  “open mind” approach. The biochemist enquired, “What kind of changes do you expect or looking for?” My reply was quite unscientific! I do not know… you have to tell me when you see one!

I was however, asking for three sets of a complete blood analysis (full blood count).

a)     Before the treatment commenced, b) after seven days (middle of the treatment) and c) final blood test, following the last treatment on the 15th day.

Because of limited funds and my time scale on the island (North Cyprus) I could not embark on a trial which would last many months and involve hundreds of people. I therefore, decided to commence and complete the trial within two weeks, involving only five patients with various complaints. Some of the patients were referred to me by the biochemist with existing (known to him) pathological conditions, and some were relatives or friends complaining from various aches and pains.

At the end of each full-blood count, 22 (twenty two) different values were recorded but only 7(seven) values were monitored, as the rest were considered irrelevant to our trial or did not show any changes at all. Seven values were: Uric acid, ESR (Erythrocyte Sedimentation Rate), Ph, RF (rheumatoid factor), WBC (white blood count), RBC (red blood count) and Hgb (Haemoglobin).

Outcome of the Trial:

Almost with all the patients involved in this trial there has been a small (+-) fluctuations in their WBC, RBC, Uric acid, RF, Ph, and Hgb. There was however, with almost every case, one major alteration, and that was the reduction in ESR (Erythrocyte Sedimentation Rate) levels. This reduction in the ESR was by far the most significant outcome of this trial. According to the biochemist (with 15 years of experience) he has “never witnessed such a drastic reduction, in such a short time, even with patients on strong medications”. During this trial the highest drop in the ESR level was 175%, and the lowest drop recorded was 15%.

What is ESR? (Erythrocyte Sedimentation Rate)
“ESR blood test is an easy, inexpensive, non-specific test that has been used for many years to help diagnose conditions associated with acute and chronic inflammations, including infections, cancers and autoimmune diseases. ESR is said to be non-specific because increases do not tell the doctor exactly where the inflammation is in your body or what is causing it. Often used in conjunction with other tests. ESR is helpful in diagnosing two specific inflammatory diseases, temporal arteritis and polymyalgia rheumatica. A high ESR is one of the main test results used to confirm the diagnosis. It is also used to monitor disease activity and response to therapy in both of these diseases. Moderately elevated ESR occurs with inflammation, but also with anaemia, infection, pregnancy, and old age. A rising ESR can mean an increase in inflammation or poor response to a therapy; decreasing ESR can mean a good response.” Taken from Lab Tests Online, a public resource on clinical lab testing.

According to the above article, a drop in the ESR level is indicative of a Positiveresponse to therapy and the opposite is true when the ESR level is on the increase. Although my study shows a clear picture of reduction in ESR levels, it is by far too small a trial to claim a major find! I therefore, urge colleagues and doctors in particular the immunologists to investigate further.