{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,5]],"date-time":"2026-10-05T18:40:07Z","timestamp":1791225607451,"version":"4.1.0"},"reference-count":29,"publisher":"SAGE Publications","issue":"10","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2016,10,1]],"date-time":"2016-10-01T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1475280000000},"content-version":"tdm","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/journals.sagepub.com\/page\/policies\/text-and-data-mining-license"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["journals.sagepub.com"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["The Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine: Paradigm, Practice, and Policy Advancing Integrative Health"],"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2016,10]]},"abstract":"<jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Background:<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>Wet cupping is a widely used traditional therapy in many countries, which justifies a continuous scientific evaluation of its efficacy and safety.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Objectives:<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>To perform a systematic review to critically evaluate and update the available evidence of wet cupping in traditional and complementary medicine.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Methods:<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>Ten electronic databases were searched from their inceptions to February 2016. Included studies were randomized clinical trials (RCTs) that evaluated wet cupping against any type of control interventions in patients with any clinical condition, as well as healthy individuals. Cochrane risk of bias tool was used to appraise the included RCTs.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Results:<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>\n                      Fourteen RCTs met the eligibility criteria. The included studies evaluated the following clinical conditions: nonspecific low back pain (NSLBP), hypertension, brachialgia, carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS), chronic neck pain, metabolic syndrome, migraine headaches, oxygen saturation in smokers with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), and oral and genital ulcers due to Beh\u00e7et disease. Two RCTs evaluated physiologic and biochemical parameters of healthy individuals. Overall, 9 RCTs favored wet cupping over various control interventions in NSLBP (\n                      <jats:italic toggle=\"yes\">n<\/jats:italic>\n                      \u2009=\u20092), hypertension (\n                      <jats:italic toggle=\"yes\">n<\/jats:italic>\n                      \u2009=\u20091), brachialgia (\n                      <jats:italic toggle=\"yes\">n<\/jats:italic>\n                      \u2009=\u20091), CTS (\n                      <jats:italic toggle=\"yes\">n<\/jats:italic>\n                      \u2009=\u20091), chronic neck pain (\n                      <jats:italic toggle=\"yes\">n<\/jats:italic>\n                      \u2009=\u20092), oxygen saturation in smokers with COPD (\n                      <jats:italic toggle=\"yes\">n<\/jats:italic>\n                      \u2009=\u20091), and oral and genital ulcers due to Beh\u00e7et disease (\n                      <jats:italic toggle=\"yes\">n<\/jats:italic>\n                      \u2009=\u20091). Five RCTs showed no statistically significant between-group differences: NSLBP (\n                      <jats:italic toggle=\"yes\">n<\/jats:italic>\n                      \u2009=\u20091), metabolic syndrome (\n                      <jats:italic toggle=\"yes\">n<\/jats:italic>\n                      \u2009=\u20091), migraine headaches (\n                      <jats:italic toggle=\"yes\">n<\/jats:italic>\n                      \u2009=\u20091), and physiologic and biochemical parameters of healthy individuals (\n                      <jats:italic toggle=\"yes\">n<\/jats:italic>\n                      \u2009=\u20092). Included RCTs had a variable risk of bias across all domains and suffered methodologic limitations.\n                    <\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Conclusions:<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>There is a promising evidence in favor of the use of wet cupping for musculoskeletal pain, specifically NSLBP, neck pain, CTS, and brachialgia. Better-quality trials are needed to generate solid evidence and firmly inform policy makers.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.1089\/acm.2016.0193","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2016,8,24]],"date-time":"2016-08-24T14:45:51Z","timestamp":1472049951000},"page":"768-777","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1177\/sage-journals-update-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":51,"title":["Evaluation of Wet Cupping Therapy: Systematic Review of Randomized Clinical Trials"],"prefix":"10.1177","volume":"22","author":[{"given":"Abdullah M.N.","family":"Al Bedah","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine","place":["Saudi Arabia"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Mohamed K.M.","family":"Khalil","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine","place":["Saudi Arabia"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Paul","family":"Posadzki","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Nanyang Technological University","place":["Singapore"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Imen","family":"Sohaibani","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine","place":["Saudi Arabia"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Tamer Shaaban","family":"Aboushanab","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine","place":["Saudi Arabia"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Meshari","family":"AlQaed","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine","place":["Saudi Arabia"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Gazzaffi I.M.","family":"Ali","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine","place":["Saudi Arabia"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"179","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2016,10,1]]},"reference":[{"key":"e_1_3_2_2_2","unstructured":"Chirali IZ. 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