If you dismiss and neglect the experience of the ancients and believe that you will find the right path only in the newest treatments, you fool yourself and the people around you
Hippocrates
The practice of cupping is over 5000 Years old. The effect has remained the same; only the cups and the techniques have changed over these many years. We can find the application of suction cups in the medicine of all “Primitive” people, as well as in the oldest civilizations. Reports about the art of cupping were already to be found in ancient Chinese and Egyptian medical scriptures. The Greek Physician, Hippocrates (400 BCE), who is known as the “Father of Medicine” was also very familiar with the method.
The history of medicine Confirms that cupping (Hijama) was used successfully until the first half of the 19th century, not only in private practice but also in hospitals. In the course of the 19th century, however, great discoveries occurred that were fundamentally significant for medicine. A chemical industry developed quickly, and chemical drugs were introduced into medicine as results of that development.
Precisely defined chemical substances aroused the interest or physicians because they had fast and specific effects. In addition, treatment was much easier with the newly discovered chemical drugs, whose mechanism of action was clearly explainable, than with the empirically based treatment methods. As a consequence, many of the old, proven treatments methods, including cupping, have gradually been forgotten in conventional Western medicine and have become the specialty of naturopaths and laypersons of the older generations who practiced them for self-treatment at home. Only a few physicians have continued to show interest in and research treatment methods that have survived for so many years.
In the course of centuries, cupping (especially the “bloody” variation) has unfortunately also been described by exaggerated and therefore often harmful applications. Publications by B. Ascender, G. Bachmann, I abele, A. Bier, Ch, Homeland, and others confirm not only the harmful effect of cupping which this method has long been blamed for but also that these do not occur when it is applied correctly. These physicians also endorse the regulating resistance-increasing effect to cupping and the acceleration of recovery in many diseases Personally, I have also gathered a wealth of experience with cupping throughout the years-even after critical evaluation, and I have not once seen any harmful effects.
Not only in India, but also in many other countries, the medicals trend has been reversed and therapeutic methods from complementary and alternative medicine are once again being adapted by conventional Western medicine. We owe the exploration of the ancient experience of the healing arts, which proves that we can utilize the reflex connections between the body’s surface and the diseased organ, to physicians like Head and Mackenzie (“Head’s zones,” hyperalagesic zones), Hansen and von staa (Cut visceral re-flex paths), Scheldt (transitional segments), pischinger (cell matrix system), and other.
The success of alternative treatment methods can no longer be denied because they do, in fact exist.
