Effect of wet cupping on reducing bone pain for patients in King Abdulaziz University Hospital, Saudi Arabia. A retrospective study.

OBJECTIVES:  To investigate the effectiveness of wet cupping as alternative treatment on reducing bone pain and built a model that predicts the level of improvement for patients who suffer from bone pain. METHODS:  This retrospective study was conducted on 289 patients referred from specialty clinics to Prophetic Medicine Clinics (PMC) between September 2013 and August 2015. The effectiveness of cupping is assessed on patients with bone pain who were redirected to PMC, King Abdulaziz University Hospital, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. An artificial neural network (ANN) method was used to propose a model that predicts levels of improvement for patients suffering from bone pain. Therefore, a random sample of 90% of the data was used to build the ANN model and tested by the remaining 10%. Inferential statistics were conducted to study relations and compare blood tests before and after treatment. RESULTS: Out of 289 patients suffering from bone pain, more than 11% were completely cured, and 55% improved after wet cupping treatment sessions. The proposed ANN model showed a good performance with more than 72% accuracy. In addition, the statistical analysis showed a significant improvement for most blood tests. CONCLUSION: Wet cupping has positive effects on reducing bone pain. We recommend the use of an ANN model in PMC to predict whether patients will benefit from the treatment to reduce pain. This is a recommendation for further study not a conclusion.

The effect of wet cupping on quality of life of adult patients with chronic medical conditions in King Abdulaziz University Hospital.

OBJECTIVES: To assess the effect of wet cupping on health-related quality of life (HRQOL) of adult patients with chronic medical conditions, who were referred to the Cupping Clinic of King Abdulaziz University Hospital (KAUH), Jeddah, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Methods: A controlled, quasi-experimental study design was carried out among 629 patients referred for cupping from the KAUH Specialty Clinics, during the period from January to December 2014. Patients in the intervention group (309 patients) completed a pre-test included WHO quality of life-BREF, received one wet-cupping session, and filled-out the post-test (1 month later). Patients in the control group (320 patients) completed the pre-test during their enrollment in the study and post-test one month later. Both groups received their ordinary treatment. Descriptive and inferential statistics were performed.  Results: Pain was the most common cause for cupping referral. After cupping intervention, the mean scores of most of the HRQOL domains, especially the physical domain, improved significantly among patients in the intervention group. The mean total score of physical HRQOL domain was 61.6 ± 13.6 before cupping, and reached 69.7 ± 12.6 after intervention (paired t-test=11.3, p=0.000). Improvements in HRQOL were noticed for almost all types of pain and other medical conditions.  Conclusion: There are promising effects in favor of using wet cupping for improving HRQOL of patients with chronic conditions. Cupping is recommended as a complementary treatment modality for chronic medical conditions, especially pain.

Evaluating the therapeutic efficacy, tolerability, and safety of an aqueous extract of Costus speciosus rhizome in acute pharyngitis and acute tonsillitis. A pilot study.

OBJECTIVES: To determine the efficacy, tolerability, and safety of an aqueous extract of Costus speciosus (C. speciosus) rhizome in pediatric and adult patients suffering from acute pharyngitis and tonsillitis as an alternative to antibiotics use. METHODS: This pilot cohort trial was conducted at King Abdulaziz University in Saudi Arabia between May and December 2014, among 15 patients with acute pharyngitis and tonsillitis who were administered nasal drops of aqueous extract of C. speciosus rhizome at a dose of 15-30 drops every 8 hours for 3 days. The primary outcome measure was the clinical improvement and remission rate within the first 5 days. RESULTS: The administration of C. speciosus resulted in an improvement in acute symptoms in 60% of the patients treated within the first 24 hours, and remission rate of 93% by day 5, without any recorded adverse effects. CONCLUSION: This study revealed a significant efficacy of the aqueous extract of C. speciosus rhizome in acute pharyngitis and tonsillitis.