The Knowledge and Reasons for Wet Vupping in Haziran Among People Referred to Cupping Clinics in Mashhad and Birjand Cities, Iran

Cupping is one of the preventive and treatment methods in traditional Iranian medicine, which has two types, dry and wet cupping. The important point is that cupping should be done at the appropriate time and place and by the qualified people to have the most beneficial effects. This study aims to investigate the reasons for wet cupping therapy in Haziran, and the people’s knowledge of the cupping principles.

This descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted in 2019 in Mashhad and Birjand cities during the last days of June. Finally, 400 eligible samples participated in this study who were selected using a convenience sampling method. The collected data were analyzed in SPSS v. 16 software.

Of 400 participants, 392 completed the questionnaires; 62.8% (n=246) were male, 75.1% (n=292) were married. 40.3% (n=154) had a university education, and 77.7% (n=289) had moderate socio-economic status. 82.2% (n=53) of the women were housewives; 6.6% (n=26) of participants had an underlying disease, 40.8% (n=119) had a history of cupping two times or more in a year, and 42.7% (n=132) had moderate satisfaction with cupping therapy. The most common reason for cupping was the “maintenance of health” (73.9%, n= 272) followed by “disease treatment”. Regarding the people’s knowledge of the principles of cupping, it was found that more than half of  participants had correct information about the best season  (spring) for cupping  (81.5%, n=255), satiety during cupping (74.4%, n=210), the best time for having bath after cupping (after 24 hours) (79.7%, n=240), what to eat after cupping (Honey syrup) (64.7%, n=189) and complications of cupping (69.3%, n=185), but their knowledge was not desirable in other areas such as the best hours of day for cupping (46.9%, n=130), the best day of the week for cupping (21.3%, n=62), and the best days of month for cupping (35.6%, n=86).

Due to the high popularity of wet cupping in Haziran in Iran, and considering the people’s low knowledge of the proper principles and conditions of cupping (such as the time of cupping), it is necessary to inform the community through the media and use specialists in traditional medicine to monitor proper cupping and observance of its principles in the cupping clinics.