Background: Cupping is one of the most common traditional medical procedures in Iran, which is widely used and prescribed from long time ago. Putting a cup on the skin with induction of negative pressure, causes an artificial inflammation with collection of some body fluids under the skin which can be extracted by scarification. Different mechanisms and effects are attributable to cupping based on several assumptions and theories. Regarding to the vast use of this traditional therapeutic method and relatively different point of views about the effects of cupping, this study was performed to systematically assess published studies in this field and also to find probable indications of cupping.
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Methods: In this systematic review, according to search via Google Scholar, PubMed, Scopus databases and Iranian databases (IranMedex and SID), 99 different scientific articles about cupping and it`s positive and negative effects were assessed. Different diseases categorized in 19 groups according to the pathophysiology and organ similarities for better presentation
Results: More than 50 different disorders have been studied in randomized or nonrandomized clinical trials. 84.9% of reviewed papers have reported significant positive effects of cupping. The most common disorders studied in the reviewed papers were musculoskeletal, pain and skin disorders, especially low back pain has been studied more with positive results of cupping.
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Conclusion: In Iran the prevalence of cupping performance is really high. The reported positive effects and also complications especially infection were also dramatic. It seems performing systematic studies on cupping effects in different disorders and designing and implementing an active surveillance system for cupping in our country is essential. According to the type of studies, authors concluded that cupping have been reported as an effective intervention for some diseases such as musculoskeletal and skin disorders, but further methodologically elaborated studies with larger sample sizes should be considered for recommending this intervention scientifically.
