Cupping

Luba Tikhonchuk 9/22/16 2nd period Science

Does cupping therapy actually work?

Introduction: Cupping therapy is an ancient form of alternative medicine in which a therapist puts special cups on your skin for a few minutes to create suction. People get it for many purposes, including to help with pain, inflammation, blood flow, relaxation and well-being,and as a type of deep-tissue massage. Claims:
 * Helps reduce pain
 * Promotes relaxation
 * Boosts skin health
 * Helps treat respiratory issues and colds
 * Improves digestion
 * Relieve cold, cough and allergy symptoms
 * Detoxifying
 * Inducing inflammation to hear injuries faster
 * Relieving digestive disorder
 * Anti-aging
 * Treating carpal tunnel syndrome

Evidence: What both kinesiotape and cupping have in common, other then a lack of evidence is that they are immediately visible to the casual observer (another example would be the hologram bracelets that were once common). Also the procedure leaves people with dark purple marks.

Cost: The combination of these two therapies is dynamite-cupping can shave weeks off the treatment time that is required to heal many conditions. The cost of cupping therapy when it is done in the same day as acupuncture is $40.00. Cupping therapy alone is $60.00.

References: Meals, B. C. (n.d.). 9 Reasons You Should Try Cupping Therapy. Retrieved September 23, 2016, from http://www.collective-evolution.com/2016/08/17/9-reasons-you-should-try-cupping-therapy/

Cupping – Olympic Pseudoscience « Science-Based Medicine. (n.d.). Retrieved September 23, 2016, from https://www.sciencebasedmedicine.org/cupping-olympic-pseudoscience/