Cupping in Fibromyalgia

Randomized Controlled Pilot Trial: The Effectiveness of Cupping in Patients With Fibromyalgia

Status

Completed

Phases

Study type

Interventional

Source

ClinicalTrials.gov

Registry ID

NCT01635634

Acronym

CuFib

Enrollment

141

Registered

2012-07-09

Start date

2012-06-30

Completion date

2015-03-31

Last updated

2018-05-11

For informational purposes only — not medical advice. Sourced from public registries and may not reflect the latest updates. Terms

Conditions

Fibromyalgia

Keywords

Fibromyalgia, Cupping

Brief summary

The purpose of this randomized controlled study is to determine the effectiveness of cupping in patients with fibromyalgia compared to sham cupping.

Detailed description

see above

Interventions

OTHERCupping therapy

Cups are placed at the skin; local suction is created on the skin; it mobilizes blood flow; the suction is created by a mechanical device (Pneumatron, Pneumed, Germany)

Study design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Intervention model

PARALLEL

Primary purpose

TREATMENT

Masking

DOUBLE (Subject, Outcomes Assessor)

Eligibility

Sex/Gender

ALL

Age

18 Years to 75 Years

Healthy volunteers

Inclusion criteria

* FMS diagnosis according to AWMF Guidelines, * necessary documents: medical records * Pain intensity \> 45mm VAS * Participation in cupping twice weekly on appointment

Exclusion criteria

* pregnancy * other study participation * pain due to other rheumatic disease * major psychiatric disorder * substance abuse * severe somatic disorder (cancer) * injections, acupuncture, neural therapy within the past 3 months

Design outcomes

Primary

Measure	Time frame	Description
Pain Intensity	Day 18	Pain on a 100mm visual analog scale

Secondary

Measure	Time frame	Description
Fatigue	Day 18	Fatigue measured by the Multidimensional Fatigue Inventory (MFI) (Smets, Garssen, Bonke et al., 1995
Sleep Quality	Day 18	measured by the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) (Buysse et al. 1989)
Quality of life	Day 18	measured by the SF-36 (Bullinger & Kirchberger, 1998)
Pain Intensity	Day 200	Pain intensity measured on a 100mm visual analog scale
adverse events	Day 18	all adverse events
Pressure pain sensitivity	Day 18	using an electronic algometer (Somedic, Sweden) to determine threshold of pain perception on predefined muscles
Disability	Day 18	measured by the FI (fibromyalgia impact questionnaire) (Offenbaecher, Waltz, Schoeps , 2000)
Medication	Day 18	measured by a medication log, daily entering of used drugs

Countries

Germany

Outcome results

None listed

Source: ClinicalTrials.gov · Data processed: Feb 4, 2026