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ABSTRACT: Objectives
Neck pain is a significant condition that is second only to depression as a cause of years lived with disability worldwide. Thus, identifying and understanding effective treatment modalities for neck pain is of heightened importance. This systematic review aimed to investigate the effects of cupping on neck pain from the current literature.Design
Systematic review and meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials (RCTs).Setting
Nine databases, including Chinese, Korean and Japanese databases, were searched for data up to January 2018 with no restrictions on publication language.Participants
Patients with neck pain.Interventions
Cupping therapy as the sole or add-on intervention compared with no treatment or active controls.Primary and secondary outcome measures
Pain severity, functional disability and quality of life.Results
Eighteen RCTs were selected. Compared with the no intervention group, the cupping group exhibited significant reduction in pain (mean difference (MD) -2.42(95% CI -3.98 to -0.86)) and improvement in function (MD -4.34(95% CI -6.77 to -1.19)). Compared with the active control, the cupping group reported significant reduction in pain (p=0.0009) and significantly improved quality of life (p=0.001). The group that received control treatment with cupping therapy (add-on group) displayed significant pain reduction compared with the active control group (p=0.001). Of the 18 studies, only 8 reported occurrence of adverse events, which were mostly mild and temporary.Conclusions
Cupping was found to reduce neck pain in patients compared with no intervention or active control groups, or as an add-on treatment. Depending on the type of control group, cupping was also associated with significant improvement in terms of function and quality of life; however, due to the low quality of evidence of the included studies, definitive conclusions could not be drawn from this review. Future well-designed studies are needed to substantiate the effectiveness of cupping on neck pain.Prospero registration number
CRD42016047218.
SUBMITTER: Kim S
PROVIDER: S-EPMC6231582 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Nov
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
Kim Seoyoun S Lee Sook-Hyun SH Kim Me-Riong MR Kim Eun-Jung EJ Hwang Deok-Sang DS Lee Jinho J Shin Joon-Shik JS Ha In-Hyuk IH Lee Yoon Jae YJ
BMJ open 20181105 11
<h4>Objectives</h4>Neck pain is a significant condition that is second only to depression as a cause of years lived with disability worldwide. Thus, identifying and understanding effective treatment modalities for neck pain is of heightened importance. This systematic review aimed to investigate the effects of cupping on neck pain from the current literature.<h4>Design</h4>Systematic review and meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials (RCTs).<h4>Setting</h4>Nine databases, including Chinese ...[more]