Cupping therapy is a form of pseudoscience in which a local suction is created on the skin using heated cups. Cupping practitioners attempt to use cupping therapy for a wide array of medical conditions including fevers, chronic low back pain , poor appetite , indigestion , high blood pressure , acne , atopic dermatitis , psoriasis , anemia , stroke rehabilitation, nasal congestion, infertility , and menstrual period cramping.
Despite the numerous ailments for which practitioners claim cupping therapy is useful, there is insufficient evidence demonstrating any health benefits. Cupping is generally not harmful for most people.
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. Many reviews suggest there is insufficient scientific evidence to support the use of cupping techniques to combat relevant diseases and chronic pain.
The lack of apparent benefits of cupping treatments are discussed by Simon Singh and Edzard Ernst in their book Trick or Treatment. As a pseudoscientific detoxification ritual, proponents of cupping falsely claim that it can remove unspecified toxins from the body.
Critics of alternative medicine have spoken out against cupping therapy. 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.
