Cupping for Lower Back Pain

Cupping for lower back pain. Clinicians in Berlin, Germany have shown that cupping for lower back pain, combined with analgesics, is more effective than analgesics alone. In the four week study they performed, 110 patients aged 18 to 65 were randomised to receive either eight sessions of cupping, plus paracetamol as required, or low suction cupping plus paracetamol as required, or paracetamol alone as required.

Compared with medication only, cupping plus paracetamol was a more effective treatment. At four weeks, both forms of cupping were comparable. However at twelve week follow-up, stronger cupping proved a superior option relative to controls. The researchers say that although the mechanism of cupping remains unclear, as it is a non-pharmacological and comparably safe therapy, it may be of use in clinical care independent of mechanisms.

(Pulsatile dry cupping in chronic low back pain – a randomized three-armed controlled clinical trial. BMC Complementary & Alternative Medicine, 2 April 2018.)

Author: Robin Costello

I offer traditional Chinese acupuncture in Exeter, from a tranquil clinic a mile from the city centre, and next to the University of Exeter. I graduated originally from the London School of Acupuncture and Traditional Chinese Medicine’s 3 year full time Acupuncture Diploma (DipAc) course. I am on the practitioners register of the British Acupuncture Council (MBAcC), a regulatory and professional body with an entry standard of a full three year undergraduate degree level training. I have worked in a hospital in south west China, deepening my knowledge and using acupuncture and Chinese massage (tuina) as the treatment of choice in its country of origin. I have taught Chinese medicine in colleges, the NHS and at university level. I also practise Qi Gong, and Chinese dietary therapy, that is the medicinal use of ordinary foods, chosen to help achieve particular therapeutic effects in different individuals.