Our services

What is cupping therapy?

Cupging, also known as cupping, is a traditional form of treatment performed by creating a vacuum on the surface of the skin using a small bowl. It is relatively inexpensive and non-invasive. Nowadays, cupping therapy is applied to acupuncture points.

Although it is generally associated with traditional Chinese Medicine, cupping therapy has been used for centuries in ayurvedamedicine, Arabic medicine (El-Hijama), Egypt, Ancient Greece and It was used in Roman healing practices.

One of the first records of cupping therapy was found in the Bo Shu, an ancient book found inside a Han Dynasty tomb. Galen and Hippocrates, who are considered the pioneers of Western medicine, also used and encouraged cupping therapy.

Cupging therapy occurs by applying a heated cap to the skin to create a partial vacuum to stimulate blood flow.

Today, glass cups are used, but in older times, cups made of bamboo, metal or earth were commonly used.

Vacuum involves placing a cotton swab dipped in alcohol and ignited in a container. It is inserted and quickly closed to the skin by heating the container and removing the oxygen in it. The cup is applied to the skin (usually on the back and shoulders) and a vacuum is created as the cup cools. In a sense, the mechanisms of action of cupping therapy overlap with those of akupunktur.

What are the types of cupping therapy?

• dry fixed: cup in one position remains

• wet superficial (cupping): incisions are opened where blood accumulates and blood is removed by vacuum

• moving cup: the cup is moved along the skin

• moxibustion: dried plants are burned

• cup with acupuncture treatment

• cupping therapy with medications: use of cream or ointment

The duration of cupping therapy is usually between 5-10 minutes. Different size cups, different pressures and application times can be applied for different effects. The scar remaining after cupping treatment is proportional to the temperature, cup size, duration of the cup on the body, and the health condition of the person. Depending on the frequency of use of cupping therapy and the way it is applied, color change can be seen on the skin. There is also a scale development action to measure the color change that occurs as a result of cupping therapy.

What is the extent of cupping therapy research?

Regarding cupping therapy There are 5,958 scientific publications and 638 "clinical studies". This pales in comparison to acupuncture, which has 27,781 publications and 4,623 clinical studies. One of the main problems with cupping therapy, like many traditional, complementary and alternative therapies, is that the effects of placebo are accepted as real data. Recently, fake cupping therapies have started to emerge.

Is the philosophy of cupping therapy supported by science?

There are two approaches to understanding the mechanism of action of cupping therapy.

1. According to traditional Chinese medicine, cupping therapy is believed to balance Ying and Yang and control the flow of chi.

2. According to Western medicine, cupping therapy creates physical pressure, and this pressure triggers nerves and endocrine (hormonal) responses. These situations occur in certain regions and systematically.

The reason why cupping therapy is not accepted scientifically is that it does not have sufficiently comparable results with existing modern treatments. However, if more experiments and observations are made about cupping therapy, it can be used as a medical treatment in the future, or the situations in which it is not effective may be revealed more clearly.

The hypothesis behind cupping therapy is that the neuroendocrine and immune system cells are activated as a result of cupping stimulating the nerves on the skin.

Cupging therapy expands the vessels that feed the skin. Subsequently, an intense blood flow to the capillaries causes ruptures in the capillaries and ecchymoses (bruises). These areas of ecchymosis on the skin activate the inflammatory cells of the blood, attract them to this area, and regional acute inflammations occur.

Does cupping therapy reduce pain?

Relieve muscle pain. Relief is the leading purpose of use of cupping therapy worldwide.

In a clinical study conducted by Arab researchers with the participation of 80 people, the safety and effectiveness of wet cupping therapy for low back pain without a specific cause was evaluated. As a result of the study, it was observed that there were significant improvements in pain scores in the arm receiving cupping therapy compared to the control group, and it was reported that the improvement in the arm receiving cupping therapy continued until 2 weeks after the session.

In the meta-analysis of 4 different clinical studies conducted with 200 people, significant improvements were reported in the pain, limitation of movement and quality of life results caused by nonspecific neck pain.

A special area of interest for cupping therapy is herpes zoster. or pain related to shingles. A total of eight randomized controlled trials involving 651 patients evaluating the effectiveness of wet cupping therapy for shingles pain were included in a meta-analysis. According to the results of the meta-analysis, wet cupping therapy had drug-like effectiveness in shingles pain, also known as postherpatic neuralgia.

Fibromyalgia; It is a chronic disease characterized by widespread muscle pain, fatigue, exhaustion and sleep disturbance. Although there are studies suggesting that cupping therapy is effective in fibromyalgia, there are also those who attribute the results of cupping therapy in fibromyalgia to the placebo effect.

The quality of studies on cupping therapy for pain relief varies widely. However, cupping therapy seems to offer some benefits in terms of pain relief.

Does cupping therapy activate and support the immune system?

Studies on how cupping therapy affects the immune system are both small-scale and very few in number. For this reason, experts state that it is difficult to say anything clear based on the data about cupping therapy and immunity.

Does cupping therapy have an effect on hypertension (high blood pressure)?

There are studies planned to be done on this subject but have not been conducted yet. It has limited data; Small studies suggest cupping therapy may play a short-term role in reducing hypertension.