Cupping therapy in Saudi Arabia: from control to integration

Cupping Therapy as a Potential Complimentary Treatment for Meniere's Disease: A Case Report

Meniere's disease is defined by the presence of three essential symptoms: episodic vertigo, tinnitus, and sensorineural hearing loss. The mainstay of its management constitutes lifestyle modification and medical and surgical therapies. Cupping therapy is an ancient treatment that is still widely used especially in the Middle East, Africa, and the United Kingdom. This study portraits the case of a 54-year-old patient suffering from long-standing Meniere's disease. The patient was treated with the routine treatment that was to no avail. It was decided that the patient undergoes cupping therapy. Over two years of monthly cupping therapy sessions, the patient reported a decrease in intensity and frequency of symptoms until its disappearance. Cupping therapy has shown a positive outcome on the patient. According to our search, there is a previous case report published in 2020 that shares multiple similarities with our case. Further studies on cupping therapy and its efficacy, mechanism of action, and complications on a larger scale are advised.

Integrating Al-Hijamah into Healthcare System in Saudi Arabia: Hospital Staff's Perception, Possible Use, and Acceptability

INTRODUCTION

Al-Hijamah must be integrated into the conventional healthcare system in Saudi Arabia to respond to the unmet needs in modern medicine. This quantitative, cross-sectional study explores hospital staff's perception, possible use, and acceptability of Al-Hijamah as an alternative medicine for their patients.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

359 physicians and nurses were randomly selected as respondents across ten government hospitals in Saudi Arabia. The awareness and acceptability of Al-Hijamah were determined using proportion estimation. Logistic regression was applied to determine the associations among the hospital staff's awareness and acceptability of its integration into the healthcare services.

RESULTS

Majority (75%) of the hospital staff exhibited a high level of knowledge regarding Al-Hijamah and a high level of acceptance (72%) on incorporating Al-Hijamah into their practice. Hospital staff with high level of knowledge were 3.5 times more likely to incorporate AL-Hijamah in their practice (p <0.000). Moreover, all 13 integration concepts have a positive acceptance rate (50% and above), showing a high degree of acceptance among hospital staff.

CONCLUSION

This study paves the way for the modification of current policies in the practice of complementary and alternative medicine in Saudi Arabia and suggests areas where the present healthcare system may be failing to meet patients' holistic care needs.

A model to standardize safety and quality of care for cupping therapy

Cupping therapy has historical, traditional and religious value. It is increasingly popular in the field of complementary, alternative and integrative medicine. However, standards for safety and quality of service are absent. Although it is generally considered safe, cupping therapy can cause adverse events. Most of these events are predictable and preventable. A comprehensive approach to patient eligibility and therapist selection, along with compliance with standard operational procedures is essential to regulate the safety of the practice. Here we discuss a model framework for standardizing safety and quality of care. We recommend that this model be used routinely by cupping therapists and their associations on a nation-wide scale.

Model Control of Cupping Treatment Therapy for Patient Satisfaction at the Community Health Center in Langsa City, Indonesia

BACKGROUND

Traditional medicine cupping therapy is so popular for the community in Langsa city; therefore, it needs to standardise and government control.

AIM

To find out the supervision model of cupping therapy for patient satisfaction at the community health centre in Langsa City.

METHODS

The design of this study is a quasi-experiment. The design used was a non-randomized pretest-posttest control group design. The sample was chosen as many as 45 people, using a purposive sampling technique for patients visiting with inclusion and exclusion criteria. Univariate and bivariate analysis was used to see the effect of traditional cupping therapy supervision models on patient satisfaction. Then test paired t-test and One-Way ANOVA.

RESULTS

The paired t-test results showed a significant change in satisfaction with a value of p < 0.05. Group (SOP & supervision = 7.07) and (SOP = 3.13) each change with p-value = 0.0001. The group (control = 04) experienced a change in satisfaction with p-value = 0.02. ANOVA test results show there are differences between groups with a p-value of 0.0001. The difference in value includes SOP and supervision of the control of 7.46 with p = 0.0001. The SOP group for the control group was 3.53 with p 0.004. The SOP & supervision group towards the SOP group was 3.93 with p 0.001.

CONCLUSION

The SOP group supervision and supervision model is effective in increasing satisfaction scores cupping therapy patients in the community health centre of the city of Langsa, Aceh Province, Indonesia.

Ethnobotanical Study of Indigenous Medicinal Plants of Jazan Region, Saudi Arabia

For a long time, the people of Saudi Arabia have been using medicinal plants (MPs) as conventional medicine to heal diverse human and livestock diseases. The present work is the first study on ethnobotanical uses of 124 MPs species used by the local tribal communities of Jazan province in the Southwest of Saudi Arabia. Ethnobotanical data were collected by interviewing 174 local informants using semistructured interviews. Informants of different ages, from several settlements belonging to several tribal communities, were interviewed. It is worth noticing that the age of informants and their knowledge of MPs were positively correlated, whereas the educational level and MP knowledge of participants were negatively correlated. To find out if there was agreement in the use of certain plants in the treatment of given ailments, we used Informant Consensus Factor (ICF). To determine the most frequently used plant species for treating a particular ailment category by local people we used the fidelity level (FL%). The Relative Frequency of Citation (RFC) was used to indicate the local importance of a species and the relative importance (RI) level was used to check the therapeutic potentials of the cited plants. A total of 124 MPs belonging to 103 genera and 48 families were collected and identified. The majority of these plants were shrubs (45%), perennial herbs (21%), annual herbs (19%), or trees (18%). The Asteraceae (10.48%), Fabaceae (7.25%), and Apocynaceae (7.25%) families were the most represented. Leaves, fruits, and whole plant (24%, 18%, and 16%, respectively) were the most used plant parts in formulating traditional medicines. Ziziphus spina-christi and Calotropis procera with the highest RI level (2.0) were found to have the highest range of therapeutic uses. They were followed by Datura stramonium (1.86), Withania somnifera, and Aloe vera (1.81). The ICF ranged from 0.02 to 0.42 covering 12 disease categories with a prevalence of disease categories related to skin and hair problems (ICF=0.42) having 75 species cited, while 73 species were cited for gastrointestinal tract (GIT) disorders (ICF = 0.40). Senna alexandrina (67%), Tribulus terrestris (64%), Pulicaria undulata (60%), Leptadenia pyrotechnica (55%), and Rumex nervosus (55%) had the highest FL which indicates their good healing potential against specific diseases. The high-FL species are the most promising candidate plants for in-depth pharmacological screening and merit further consideration. Accordingly, Jazan flora has good ethnobotanical potential. Unfortunately, many MP species are endangered by drought, overgrazing, and overexploitation. Some protection measures should be undertaken to prevent these species from becoming extinct. Natural reserves and wild nurseries are typical settings to retain medically important plants in their natural habitats, while botanic gardens and seed banks are important paradigms for ex situ conservation.

The future of integrative health and medicine in Saudi Arabia

Saudi Arabia is witnessing a healthcare transformation to face the challenges of the increased burden of noncommunicable diseases and to maintain the quality of healthcare services. However, in Saudi Arabia, where low back and neck pain, depressive disorders, migraine, diabetes, and anxiety disorders cause the most disability, a broader way of integrative health approach is needed to foster healthy lives and promote well-being for all ages. In the presence of the advanced modern medicine healthcare system in Saudi Arabia, the traditional medicine healing system is being used by a substantial proportion of Saudis but like a shadow healthcare system. This phenomenon of using two healthcare systems reflects a need for an integrative healthcare system. Integrative medicine or approach is about bringing traditional, complementary, and modern medicine in a harmonized system of healthcare which can give a high return and save cost. The rationale behind integrative medicine is to include the best practices of both conventional and complementary therapy, uniting these practices into an integrative approach. Pain management, care of cancer patients, and behavior change are among the leading areas of integration models that should be included in healthcare transformation in Saudi Arabia. Investment in behavior change and well-being outside the boundaries of the healthcare system in the Saudi 2030 vision will have more impact on health and wellness of the Saudi citizen in the face of the epidemics of the lifestyle diseases. Models of integrative medicine during the healthcare transformation can be developed, evaluated, and replicated.