The Pharmaceutical Journal
Vol 273 No 7309 p113
24 July 2004

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· Charter ballot
· Violence in pharmacies
· Cupping
· Humour in pharmacy
· Pharmacy education
· Natural therapies
· The Journal

Letters to the Editor

Cupping

Still widely used on the continent

From Professor E. Ernst

Bill Jackson wrote a fine piece on cupping (PJ, 17 July, p88). Finally we can understand what Gwyneth Paltrow has been up to!

I might add that, on the European continent, cupping is still widely used. As a young doctor in a Munich hospital, I was taught how to use cupping for musculoskeletal pain, and even today it is a popular treatment for this and other conditions. Does it work? The method has many satisfied customers but, as we know, there is hardly a medical treatment that does not, effective or not. There are no good trial data, but who would fund such a study these days?

Regarding Ms Paltrow, should we raise money so that she can afford a dress which covers her back and shoulders in case she tries cupping again? Or perhaps she has cupping to treat exhibitionism? If this is the case, let us hope she does not suffer from haemorrhoids!

E. Ernst
Director of Complementary Medicine
Peninsula Medical School,
Universities of Exeter and Plymouth

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