A cross sectional study of chronic pain relief after bekam (traditional malay “cupping”) therapy
- Author:
Kean Ghee Lim
;
Shu Whey Chuah
;
Michelle Ee Shan Too
;
Zheng Guo Wong
;
Ashwin Murugesan
;
Syed Ameer Bin Syed Azman
- Publication Type:Journal Article
- Keywords:
Bekam;
cupping;
chronic pain;
analgesic use;
pain score
- MeSH:
Medicine, Traditional;
Chronic Pain
- From:International e-Journal of Science, Medicine and Education
2015;9(2):32-36
- CountryMalaysia
- Language:English
-
Abstract:
Introduction: Bekam, an Islamic variant of cupping,
is an ancient form of traditional medicine still practised
today in Malaysia. There are published findings
indicating that cupping benefits patients with low back
pain, other musculoskeletal pain and even pain from
cancer, herpes zoster and trigeminal neuralgia when
pain is measured on an analogue scale. We proposed to
investigate whether in addition to pain improvement on
an analogue scale we could show if pain relief might be
demonstrated in terms of reduction of analgesic use.
Methods: We carried out a retrospective cross sectional
study on subjects who had been for outpatient clinic
treatment with chronic pain of at least one month and
who completed at least two bekam therapy sessions.
In addition to documenting a pain score before and after
therapy we documented their analgesic consumption.
Results: A total of 77 respondents, with overlapping
symptoms of headache, backache and joint pains were
included. The mean pain score before bekam therapy
was 6.74±1.78, and was 2.66±1.64 after two sessions
of therapy. Twenty eight respondents completed
six sessions of bekam therapy and had a mean pain
score of 2.25±1.32 after. Thirty-four patients consumed
analgesic medication before starting bekam therapy and
only twelve did so after. The consumption of analgesics
was significantly lower after bekam therapy.
Conclusions: Bekam therapy appears to help patients
experience less pain and reduce the amount of analgesic
medication they consume. Nevertheless only a
randomised prospective study will eliminate the biases
a retrospective study is encumbered with and we believe
would be worth doing.
- Full text:P020150903537195755892.pdf
