History Of Cupping Therapy

History of Cupping Therapy

Types of Cups

* While cupping therapy is most commonly associated with TCM (Traditional Chinese Medicine), it has been a staple of folk medicine in many regions of the world, including Egypt, the Middle East, India, ancient Greece, and parts of Africa. It continued to be a popular treatment in Europe until the early 20th century, until it fell out of favor to conventional medicine. However, cupping is still widely used to this day in many parts of the world where conventional medicine is not as accessible

* It is thought that cupping was developed by prehistoric humans who used simple techniques, such as using the mouth to suck blood out from a wound. This was a natural instinct, just as you would suck your finger if you were pricked by a needle or a splinter. Later, instead of using their mouths, practitioners used cups. The first cups were most likely made of animal horn, which is why cupping therapy was first known as “horn therapy.” To create the suction, the practitioner would suck the air out from the tip of the horn with their mouth.

Horn Cups

 *Some people even used the shells of pumpkins and other gourds as cups, again sucking the air from the pumpkin from a hole at the top to create suction.

Pumpkin Shell

Bamboo Cups
* Later on, they used other materials, such as bamboo, clay, or earthenware cups.

* One of the oldest mentions of cupping is from the Egyptian book Ebers Papyrus, which is the oldest medical book, written in 1550 BC. It mentions that cupping was used for treating almost every disorder, including fever, pain, vertigo, menstrual imbalances, and weakened appetite, and that it helped to accelerate healing. From Egypt, cupping was likely passed on to the ancient Greeks. Hippocrates, sometimes referred to as the father of modern medicine, used cupping for many internal and structural diseases. He was one of the first physicians to believe that disease is not due to supernatural causes, but to things of natural origin, such as poor weather, geography, poor diet, overworking, and emotions. Since the Greeks were in the Bronze Age at this time, the cups were made of bronze. At this time in history, cupping was more prominent in Greece than it was in China.

*In the Middle East, many different nations use cupping for treating inflammation. Cupping is known as hejama or hijama in Arabic, which translates as “to restore to basic size” or “to diminish in volume.” The founder of Islam, Muhammad, was known to be an advocate of cupping and even mentioned it throughout his writings. Muhammad wrote about cupping locations for the treatment of different pain-related diseases. Other Islamic medical texts also describe the best time to do cupping, what to eat or avoid eating before or after cupping, and how to diagnose based on cupping marks. Iranian traditional medicine uses cupping to eliminate scar tissue and holds the belief that it cleanses the internal organs.

The earliest texts of cupping in China include the following:

 • The earliest record of cupping in China was found in a Han dynasty (206 BC to 220 AD) tomb, in a book called Bo Shu.

 • The first record of cupping methods was found in a book called Zouhou Fang, written in 28 AD. 

 • The first descriptions of treatment of a specific disease were recorded in a book called Weitaimiyao in 755 AD, which discusses treating tuberculosis with cupping.

 • Animal horns used for cupping and draining pustules from the skin were first mentioned by Ge Hong (281 to 341 AD) in A Handbook of Prescriptions for Emergencies.

 • During the Qing dynasty (1644 to 1911 AD), Zhao Xueming wrote the Supplement to Outline of Herbal Pharmacopoeia, which talks about “Fire-Jar Qi,” or the use of fire to create the suction for cupping, and replacing the animal horn with bamboo, ceramic, or glass cups. He also wrote about the history and origin of different kinds of cupping, different cup shapes, and their functions and applications. In the 1950s, Chinese and Russian practitioners put a lot of research into cupping, and cupping was integrated into treatment in hospitals all over China. Cupping was also common practice in Europe in the 19th and early 20th centuries. The Royal Marsden Hospital in London had full-time cuppers, who were often doctors or surgeons. Famous British author George Orwell wrote an essay in 1946 called “How the Poor Die,” in which he describes cupping being practiced in a Parisian hospital. He writes:

“First the doctor produced from his black bag a dozen small glasses like wine glasses, then the student burned a match inside each glass to exhaust the air, then the glass was popped on to the man’s back or chest and the vacuum drew up a huge yellow blister. Only after some moments did I realize what they were doing to him. It was something called cupping, a treatment which you can read about in old medical textbooks…”

 By the 1880s, cupping had begun to fall out of practice in the Western world due to a lack of understanding as to how the mechanism worked, rather than the lack of therapeutic results. However, over the past few decades, cupping has shown a resurgence, and cupping therapy is practiced by a wide range of practitioners, including Traditional Chinese Medicine practitioners, acupuncturists, massage therapists, physiotherapists, chiropractors, and some medical doctors. There is no regulatory body for cupping therapy, but it may fall within the scope of practice of many different healthcare professions as an optional add-on if they get additional training.....

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