Effectiveness of wet-cupping therapy comparedwith dry-cupping therapy in a rat modelcomplete Freund's adjuvant-inducedpain

Pain is the most common reason for seeking therapeutic alternatives to conventional medicine.l Chronic pain of moderate to severe intensity occurs in l9% of adult Europeans, seriously affecting the quality of their social and working lives.2 Non steroid anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) were found to be the dominant class of analgesic prescribed by primary care physicians,l however, they are associated with severe side effects including lower gastrointestinal damage.4 Cupping therapy is an ancient medical technique and still widely used as a healing method in various countries and region mostly in Asian and Middle Eastern, including Indonesia. They are two type of cupping therapy, wet-cupping therapy and dry-cupping therapy. Previous study showed that the two type of cupping can relieve pain.1 Another research showed that wet-cupping effective for nonspecific low back pain,5 and carpal tunnel syndrome.6 This study is the first research to know the effectiveness of cupping therapy in an animal pain model. Also we want to know the effect of wet-cupping therapy compared with dry-cupping therapy. We hypothesized that the group of cupping therapy would have less pain and the wet-cupping therapy more effective than dry-cupping.