Is cupping 'bonkers' or a valuable treatment? The doctor is in
By Alan Cooper, M.D.
August 06, 2008 | 05:28 PM A few weeks ago, my middle son, Andrew, 23, left for an exotic six month adventure to a Taoist temple on the top of a mountain in a remote part of central China — fortunately, nowhere near the recent earthquakes. He and the other seven students were the first group of Westerners ever to be invited to study at this prestigious temple. He did not have a strong interest in eastern religion but his sense of adventure, and perhaps a very attractive girl with whom he travelled, might have had something to do with it. I knew that one of the subjects of study would be traditional Chinese medicinal herbs along with the martial arts and Eastern philosophy. But I was intrigued to learn in his first email that he was learning the ancient Chinese art of cupping. One takes cups approximately the size of a teacup, heats the air inside and places them on a patient's back, trying to achieve an airtight seal. When the air in the cup cools, a partial vacuum is created in the cup since cool air takes up less space than hot air. The vacuum in the cup can draw up a large amount of skin, underlying tissue and blood, creating rows of cup-sized blisters on the patient's back. Chinese medical theories explain that this process affects the flow of "chi" through the "meridians" of the body similar to acupuncture needles. Wanting to learn more about this strange procedure, I "googled" it. I found that it is a very, very old treatment. The oldest medical writings, dating back to 1500 B.C. in Egypt, make reference to it. It is known in Persian, Arabic, Mexican and Irish literature, among others. The leading British medical journal, The Lancet, is named after the sharp objects used to scrape the skin prior to cupping. When the skin is scraped first, the cupping will actually cause blood to be removed. This is referred to as wet cupping, which is effectively the same as the ancient treatment of "blood letting." Apparently cupping is being done in the United States now. Alternative medicine practitioners believe that the cupping process removes toxins from the system. When I researched cupping, I not only found many articles, but even a photo of Gwyneth Paltrow with rows of "cupping" marks all over her back. The process leaves ecchymosis (black and blue) marks on the skin, sort of like getting giant 'hickies.' I confess that I didn't know that cupping was part of current alternative medical treatment until I started looking into it after Andrew's letter, but I had heard of it before. I vaguely remember my father telling me about an old Jewish treatment that was called bankes (pronounced bonkers). I find it very interesting that this strange old remedy has been used in all these cultures. Those of you who have been reading my articles know that I don't need much of a provocation to come up with my own peculiar theory. It seemed to me that bankes would work much like the old remedy of "blood letting." In both cases the treatment would dramatically reduce total fluid volume in the bloodstream. This could bring about almost instant recovery to a person who was suffering from acute congestive heart failure. Modern medicine treats this condition in much the same way, only now we administer a substantial dose of the very quick-acting diuretic popularly known as Lasix. Lasix has the advantage of taking away excess fluid without taking away oxygen-carrying blood. The problem in congestive heart failure is that the pumping action of the heart has become too weak to clear the fluid out of the lungs and the patient experiences shortness of breath. When the total fluid volume is suddenly reduced, whether with Lasix or cupping, the heart easily catches up, the lungs clear and the patient feels much better. Sometimes the failure was caused by some temporary setback, so the bankes/cupping treatment might appear curative. And what a dramatic cure it would be. In an era when very few medicines quickly cured anything, it is easy to see how almost magical properties would be ascribed to this treatment. The practitioner, the patient, and any observers would certainly go around singing the praises of this wonderful cure. Since they would have had no clue of the underlying illness or the mechanism of action of reducing fluid load on the heart, they would logically try this treatment for all kinds of maladies. I asked questions of some of my older family members about this, and my sister vaguely remembers that our maternal grandmother applied bankes to her back in an attempt to relieve a tummy ache. My father-in-law also remembers having the treatment applied to him as a child, but he doesn't remember what it treated or whether it helped. Paltrow's paternal grandmother was a Jewish lady from Great Neck, who was a close friend of my mother's. I wonder if Paltrow first heard of this treatment when she was a little girl. Although I think it is interesting that my son is in China learning this ancient art that was also part of his Jewish heritage, you can be sure that I will install locks on the kitchen cabinets before he gets home.