Analysis of information sources in references of the Wikipedia article "Cupping therapy" in English language version.
The Cambodian Health Ministry does not advocate cupping, and warns that it could be a health risk. Health Ministry spokesman Ly Sovann told me that the practice is not known to cure any illnesses, and in fact can be dangerous for people with high blood pressure or heart problems. Still, the practice is not banned in the country because it is almost a way of life for Cambodians, he said.
As I lay down I saw on a bed nearly opposite me a small, round-shouldered, sandy-haired man sitting half naked while a doctor and a student performed some strange operation on him. First the doctor produced from his black bag a dozen small glasses like wine glasses, then the student burned a match inside each glass to exhaust the air, then the glass was popped on to the man's back or chest and the vacuum drew up a huge yellow blister. Only after some moments did I realize what they were doing to him. It was something called cupping, a treatment which you can read about in old medical text-books but which till then I had vaguely thought of as one of those things they do to horses.
...a cupping session – a recently revived, if archaic procedure, during which a therapist uses a cupping hatchet to make small cuts in your back and places glass cups fitted with bulb syringes over the cuts to draw out 'bad blood' and release 'feel-good' endorphins. Cupping is considered perfectly safe and aficionados say the procedure energizes them, but it's definitely not for germophobes or the squeamish.
