A REVIEW ON THE EFFECTS OF WET-CUPPING (HIJAMAT) ON FASTING BLOOD SUGAR

Wet-cupping is an old procedure used for treating different disorders in ancient and nowadays it used for managing of pain, some dermal disorders and metabolic disorders. In this study we aimed to assess effectiveness of wet-cupping on blood sugar in clinical trials. A comprehensive literature search for all published studies using PubMed, Science direct, Medline, Ovid Google scholar and three Iranian Medical Databases was performed for English and Persian language studies from inception through to October 2016. The studies included should be clinical trials, cohort and case-control studies by using combinations of the terms including “Wet-cupping”, “Hijamat”, “diabetes”, “glucose” and “blood sugar”. All authors independently extracted information and evaluated methodological quality according to 'CONSORT' assessment checklist. The full manuscripts of all citations that were likely to meet our study objective were selected and obtained. In cases of duplicate publication, we selected the most recent and complete versions. From the 252 citations identified from electronic searches, at beginning, we found 25 related articles. Out of these articles 5 ones including 367 subjects meet our study objectives. These articles were not highly qualified. There was no significant difference on fasting blood sugar of those with normal blood sugar after wet-cupping; while the blood sugar of diabetes cases was decreased for a short period time; however it was not remained after a long term follow up. Although there is a diminished blood sugar of diabetes participants after wet-cupping, considering small number of clinical trials and methodological poor quality, the more studies is needed to confirm these changes. Key Words: Wet-Cupping, Hijamat,Fasting Blood Sugar, A Review