Quick answer
Cupping therapy, also called hijama, applies suction cups to the skin to increase local blood flow and reduce muscular tightness. It is used as an adjunct alongside physiotherapy for muscular pain and stiffness, most often in the back and shoulders. Circular marks are expected and usually fade within a week.
Cupping applies suction to the skin and the tissue beneath it. Patients commonly report reduced muscular tightness and short-term pain relief, particularly across the back and shoulders.
How we position it
We offer cupping as an adjunct within a physiotherapy programme, not as a standalone cure. The evidence supports short-term relief of muscular pain; it does not support claims about removing toxins or treating internal disease, and we do not make them.
What a session involves
Cups are applied to the treatment area for a few minutes, either static or moved across oiled skin. Dry cupping uses suction alone. Wet cupping (hijama) involves small superficial scratches before the cup is applied, and is performed only by practitioners trained in it.
All equipment is single-use and sterile.
What to expect afterwards
Circular marks appear where the cups sat. They are not bruises in the injury sense and generally fade within three to seven days. Mild soreness for a day afterwards is normal.
When it is not appropriate
Cupping is avoided over broken skin, active infection or recent surgical sites, and in people with bleeding disorders, on anticoagulant medication, or with poorly controlled diabetes. We screen for these before treating, and wet cupping in particular is not offered where any of them apply.
Medically reviewed by Pooja Tyagi, BPT, MPT, Orthopaedic Physiotherapy · Last reviewed September 2026