PROPHETIC WET CUPPING PRACTICES FOR DEGENERATIVE DISEASES AT THE WAROENG SEHAT TANGERANG SELATAN: A PRELIMINARY STUDYFLORI R. SARI, M. ARSKAL SALIM G.P., FIKA EKAYANTI, AZIZ AL-SAFI ISMAIL AND MERY NITALIAAbstract Wet cupping recommended by the Islamic prophet is known as the prophetic cupping and believed as the treatment for many illnesses. Yet, evidences are not significantly convincing to suggest cupping is effective for treating chronic degenerative diseases including hypertension, diabetes mellitus, lipid metabolism disorders. In this before and after study, subjects were recruited purposively and interviewed with guided questionnaire. Wet cupping was applied two times in one-month duration. Subjects were analyzed for physical examination including blood pressure and laboratory examination including plasma uric acid, total cholesterol and blood glucose level. Among 15 subjects, 80% already had cupping as routine treatment since 86.7% subject got an improvement during cupping therapy and 93.3% believed cupping is a safe treatment. Systolic and diastolic blood pressures, plasma blood glucose and uric acid level were decreased in the subjects; however, the results did not gain significances from the statistical analysis. Interestingly, plasma total cholesterol level was significantly decreased after the study compared to the before study. In conclusion, subjects believed that cupping is a good and safe treatment. Furthermore, cupping gives a beneficial role in decreasing total cholesterol level in hypercholesterolemia subjects. |