Cupping therapy

Cupping therapy is a form of alternative medicine in which a local suction is created on the skin. Cupping has been characterized as a pseudoscience, and its pratice as quackery. There is no good evidence it has any health benefits, and there are some risks of harm, especially from wet cupping and fire cupping. Cupping is poorly supported by scientific evidence, with a 2014 review of recent evidence finding that 'because of the unreasonable design and poor research quality, the clinical evidence of cupping therapy is very low.' A 2011 review found that 'the effectiveness of cupping is currently not well-documented for most conditions', and that systematic reviews showing efficacy for the treatment of pain 'were based mostly on poor quality primary studies.' The American Cancer Society notes that 'available scientific evidence does not support claims that cupping has any health benefits' and also that the treatment carries a small risk of burns. Cupping has been characterized as quackery. In their 2008 book Trick or Treatment, Simon Singh and Edzard Ernst write that no evidence exists of any beneficial effects of cupping for any medical condition. Critics of alternative medicine such as Harriet Hall and Mark Crislip have characterized cupping as 'pseudoscience nonsense', 'a celebrity fad', and 'gibberish', and observed that there is no evidence that cupping works any better than a placebo. Pharmacologist David Colquhoun writes that cupping is 'laughable... and utterly implausible.' Practicing surgeon David Gorski observes, '...it’s all risk for no benefit. It has no place in modern medicine, or at least shouldn’t.' While ineffective, cupping is generally safe when applied by trained professionals on people who are otherwise healthy. Cupping may result in bruising, burns, pain, and/or skin infection, and is not recommended for people with health problems due to side effects. In 2016, the Cambodian Ministry of Health warned that cupping could be a health risk and particularly dangerous for people with high blood pressure or heart problems.