Single Dry Cupping Treatment On Vascular Function In Healthy Young Individuals

Abstract

Cupping, part of traditional Chinese medicine, is regularly observed to bring about pain relief and to increase a patient’s general feeling of well-being. It has been suggested that cupping promotes hyperemia (i.e., increased blood flow). Flow-mediated dilatation (FMD) is a widely used method of assessment of vascular function that provides a surrogate index for arterial health. PURPOSE: To examine the effect of a single dry cupping treatment on vascular function among healthy young individuals. METHODS: Five apparently healthy young individuals (3 women and 2 men, average age: 22 ± 1.48 years) participated in this study. Dry cupping treatment was performed applying two plastic cups on the non-dominant arm of each participant. Before and after a 10-minute cupping treatment, brachial FMD was evaluated using a high-resolution ultrasound with a 7.5-MHz linear array transducer. RESULTS: Following the 10-minute cupping treatment, brachial FMD increased significantly after the treatment from 7.40 ± 0.65 to 8.98 ± 1.4%, p < 0.05. Participants did not experience complications as a result of the intervention. CONCLUSIONS: These findings demonstrated that in healthy individuals, dry cupping treatment, was capable of increasing vascular function. This study underlies the role of cupping treatment in promoting vascular function improvements. Finally, cupping is an inexpensive and low-risk alternative therapeutic modality.