In March 2011, three systematic reviews were analysed for the effectiveness of wet cupping (Hijama) and dry cupping in which two out of three showed some evidence for the effectiveness of wet cupping for pain. However, one of the three reviews showed little effectiveness for cupping for stroke rehabilitation. A study by Ahmed and colleagues was carried out in order to evaluate the efficiency of wet cupping therapy in the management of rheumatoid arthritis. To sum up they concluded cupping combined with conventional medical therapy has several advantages. It significantly reduces the laboratory markers of disease activity and it modulates the immune cellular conditions particularly of innate immune response NK cell % and adaptive cellular immune response SIL-20 (FACT, Focus on Alternative and Complementary Therapies).

(Abdullah Albedah,Mohamed Khalil, Ahmed Elolemy, Ibrahim Elsubai, Asim Khalil (Hijama a review of the evidence, Volume 16, Issue 1, pages 12–16, March 2011).

Using a pre-post research design, 70 patients with chronic tension or migraine headache were treated with wet-cupping. Three primary outcome measures were considered at the baseline and 3 months following treatment: headache severity, days of headache per month, and use of medication. Results suggest that, compared to the baseline, mean headache severity decreased by 66% following wet-cupping treatment. Treated patients also experienced the equivalent of 12.6 fewer days of headache per month. We conclude that wet-cupping leads to clinical relevant benefits for primary care patients with headache. Possible mechanisms of wet-cupping’s efficacy, as well as directions for future research are discussed.

(www.worldscientific.com/doi/abs/10.1142/S0192415X08005564).

There is some evidence that wet-cupping is effective in the treatment of non-specific lower back pain.

(http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19114223).

(www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3151529/).