During a recent trip to Australia, my fiancé Matthew Baxter and I spent time on the Sunshine Coast in Queensland. This health-conscious area is a haven for alternative medicine, especially chiropractic, homeopathy, naturopathy, and Bowen therapy (a massage technique pioneered by Tom Bowen). To appease the public preference for “natural” therapies, many medical doctors offer “integrative” services, pharmacies sell homeopathic products, and masseuses offer Reiki, Rolfing, reflexology and more.
As a gift, a relative paid for Baxter to have a massage with a masseuse who is known for dabbling in chiropractic and cupping. After the service, Baxter pulled me aside and spoke conspiratorially, “I don’t mean to appear ungrateful and don’t get angry, but look at my back”. He lifted up his shirt and to my horror, revealed that his back was covered in red rings and bruises. Clearly, he’d been cupped.
However, at no time had he consented to undergo this “treatment”. We had specified a “relaxing massage”, to pay particular attention to his feet, given that he suffers from a chronic medical condition known as plantar fasciitis. There was no initial consultation, although Baxter had voiced a preference for a gentle, rather than deep-tissue massage, at which the masseuse shot him a withering look implying, “What are you, a wimp?”
After a few minutes of a general shoulder and back massage, Baxter started feeling pressure on his skin in various areas, and realized that a line of hot stones had been placed along his back. The stones were removed, and it felt to him like a single stone was placed on his back. Then he felt a harsh, scraping sensation across his back. This ended with a popping sound, and as he put it to me, “then I knew I was being cupped.”
Cupping is a form of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) that has been practiced for thousands of years (but hasn’t become any more legitimate over time). Glass or plastic cups (bamboo, metal or pottery cups are used in other countries) are applied to fleshy parts of the body, especially the back and stomach. These are attached with suction that is created using heat or a manual or electronic pump. This action is believed to suck out toxins, improve circulation, increase the flow of “chi”, and other vague, unsubstantiated benefits. Cupping gadgets are like breast pumps, but with no purpose.
Cupping is often used as an adjunct modality by a number of different alternative therapists, especially acupuncturists, who place the cups on alleged acupuncture points. There are several different types of cupping, including the dangerous method of fire cupping, where alcohol on the cups or pieces of alcohol-soaked cotton are set alight and used to heat the cups. Of course, this poses a risk of burns for the patient and the practitioner. Tim Farley’s What’s The Harm site records the case of a man who visited a medical doctor suffering from a stiff neck but was ‘treated’ with fire cupping that resulted in severe burns.1 In “wet” cupping, the skin is punctured before the cup is applied to the skin. This is intended to further draw out the supposed toxins, putting this practice in the same category as bloodletting and leech therapy. Massage cupping therapy, the kind Baxter had unwittingly, is believed to soften tight muscles and of course, detoxify the body.
Cupping is yet another cure-all. It is believed to prevent and treat a variety of conditions, including depression, arthritis, colds and flu, headache, back pain, infertility, insomnia, fever, gastrointestinal disorders, asthma, blood disorders, and even cellulite. But according to the American Cancer Society, there is no evidence for the efficacy of cupping.
Available scientific evidence does not support cupping as a cure for cancer or any other disease. Reports of successful treatment with cupping are mainly anecdotal rather than from research studies.2
Many practitioners will tell you that cupping is painless. However, Baxter found the procedure to be fairly painful while the bruising lasted for five days. And the bruises look like giant circular hickeys. Instead of a relaxing massage as requested, the masseuse cupped areas on Baxter’s back and calves, ripping out leg hairs in the process, and scraped the cups across his patient’s sore feet.
Cupping seems to be for those who believe in the philosophy that if it’s painful, it must be good for you. Cupping is certainly good for the therapist; it’s a cheap gimmick to give the appearance that a service has been performed. Moreover, the lengthy procedure takes up a lot of the patient’s appointment, and is far less arduous than the physical effort involved in giving a massage.
Why did Baxter submit to the procedure? He didn’t want to offend the gift-giver who is a regular client and friend of the masseuse, and as a skeptic, he endured the cupping to be able to talk about it from experience. At the very least, he didn’t receive the requested service, but instead underwent one he didn’t ask for, or approve. It is of concern that other patients might accept such unwanted treatments quietly. Moreover, not holding a consultation with a patient is dangerous. For example, a patient might be taking medication that makes him or her prone to bruising which could be especially risky when cupping is applied. Ultimately, this serves as a warning that some practitioners may use alternative therapies unexpectedly, and that to avoid getting more or less than you paid for, any services should be negotiated upfront and explained clearly to the patient.
1. Cupping. What’s the Harm? http://whatstheharm.net/cupping.html Accessed 05/06/2012
2. Cupping. American Cancer Society. http://www.cancer.org/Treatment/TreatmentsandSideEffects/ComplementaryandAlternativeMedicine/ManualHealingandPhysicalTouch/cupping Accessed 05/05/2012
Dr. Karen Stollznow is a linguist, author, skeptical paranormal investigator and a research fellow for the James Randi Foundation. You can follow Karen on Twitter here.