Historical Background

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 technique 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, Hindu, and Egyptian medical scriptures. The Greek physician, Hippocrates (400 BCE), who is known as the “Father of Medicine,” was also very familiar with this method.

The history of medicine confirms that cupping 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 a result of that development.

Precisely defined chemical substances aroused the interest of 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 treatment 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 a treatment method that has survived for so many years.

In the course of centuries, cupping (especially the “bloody” variation) has unfortunately also been discredited by exaggerated and therefore often harmful applications. Publications by B. Aschner, G. Bachmann, J. Abele, A. Bier, Ch. W. Hufeland, and others confirm not only the harmful effects 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 of cupping and the acceleration of recovery in many diseases. Personally, I have also gathered a wealth of experiences with cupping throughout the years—even after critical evaluation, I have not once seen any harmful effects.

Not only in Germany, but also in many other countries, the medical 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,” hyperalgesic zones), Hansen and von Staa (cutivisceral reflex paths), Scheidt (transitional segments), Pischinger (cell matrix system), and others.

The successes of alternative treatment methods can no longer be denied because they do, in fact, exist.

Only gold members can continue reading. Log In or Register to continue