Ilaj bil hijamah (cupping therapy) in the Unani system of medicine: anecdotal practice to evidence based therapy.

Abstract

This paper seeks to introduce the general concepts of cupping therapy in Unani medicine and other traditional systems of medicine, shortcomings and limitations of the currently published studies and suggest ways to improve these technical/methodological flaws. In addition, the authors have also attempted to provide the cupping related materials, hypotheses, observations which will provide the researchers the base for evaluating their usefulness in future clinical trials.