Author(s)

Mohammad Mohsen Roostayi¹, Taraneh Norouzali^1*, Farideh Dehghan Manshadi¹, Mehdi Abbasi², Alireza Akbarzadeh Baghban³

¹Physiotherapy Research Center, School of Rrhabilitation, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
²Department of Anatomy, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
³Department of Biostatics, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.

Cupping therapy has been widely used for clinical treatment of soft tissue lesions. The current study investigated the effects of cupping therapy on biomechanical properties of the skin in Wistar rats. 20 rats were divided into two groups: 10 in experimental and 10 in control group. Either the right or the left lower quadrants of the lumbar regions in the experimental group underwent 10 minutes daily cupping therapy for 12 days. The skin stiffness and ultimate tensile strength of all the rats were measured using tensiometer. The skin stiffness and ultimate tensile strength were decreased significantly in cupping side of the experimental group as compared with the non-cupping side and the control group. There were no significant differences between the non-cupping side of the experimental group and the control group. In conclusion, cupping therapy can be useful as a treatment method to reduce the skin stiffness and ultimate tensile strength.

Cupping Therapy, Stiffness, Ultimate Tensile Strength, Wistar Rat, Skin

Roostayi, M. , Norouzali, T. , Manshadi, F. , Abbasi, M. and Baghban, A. (2016) The Effects of Cupping Therapy on Skin’s Biomechanical Properties in Wistar Rats. Chinese Medicine, 7, 25-30. doi: 10.4236/cm.2016.71004.