Cupping therapy (Chinese: 拔罐; pinyin: báguàn)

Cupping is known as "pulling-up jars". It can generally be described as a technique that uses cups placed over the skin to create negative pressure through suction.

Cupping therapy dates back to ancient times and was used around the world. In China, cupping was recorded as a medical treatment in the Mawangdui Silk texts (sealed in 168 BC), and has always been a well-known part of the traditional Chinese medicine (TCM).

However, cupping therapy was used in ancient Europe and other places around the world as well.

In 400 BC, Herodotus listed wet and dry cupping as a treatment for many ailments, including maldigestion, lack of appetite, and headaches. Hippocrates advocated cupping for gynecological complaints, back and extremity illnesses, pharyngitis, lung diseases, and ear ailments. Cupping therapy was mentioned in the famous Papyrus Ebers in Ancient Egypt (1550 BC). In the Middle East, cupping was advocated for by prominent physicians like Abu Bakr Al-Razi (AD 854-925), Ibn Sina (AD 980-1037), and Al-Zahrawi (AD 936-1036). In the first century AD, Celsus advised cupping therapy for extracting poison from bites and for abscesses. In the 2nd century AD, Aretaeus treated prolapse of the uterus, cholera, epilepsy, and ileus with wet cupping. Galen was an advocate for cupping therapy and detailed a variety of materials that could be used for cups like horns, glass, and brass.

There are two types of cupping methods, dry and wet. Dry cupping is noninvasive with no bloodletting. Wet cupping is invasive and includes bloodletting, and is commonly used in China, Korea, and Germany

Cupping therapy has been used for centuries to treat a wide variety of health disorders. However, it should be noted that cupping therapy is not a substitute treatment for conventional therapies but a complementary therapy. Health professionals should also be aware evidence to support its use for treating most medical disorders is lacking and that some health professionals may mistake cupping bruises as evidence of abuse.