Abstract
Objectives : To investigate minimum pressure by verifying changes in pressure due to bleeding amount during bloodletting-cupping therapy. Methods : (1) We compared adhesion performance of four different cupping cups of same size: two disposable cupping cups(A, B) and two reusable cupping cups(A, B) each were vacuumed three times and kept in place for 10 minutes. (2) We vacuumed two different sized disposable cupping cups(A), size.1(InnerDiameter 48.8 mm) and size.3(InnerDiameter 39.1 mm), twice each(-200 mmHg) on silicon plate. We injected water and air at regular intervals in cupping cups by using a syringe, and then measured change of pressure in cupping cups and pressure at the time of dropout. Results : (1) Pressure reduction was $4.75{\pm}2.78%$ on average in the order of 'Disposable[A]>reusable[B]>Disposable[B]>reusable[A]', so that pressure retention performance of disposable cups can't be regarded as inferior to that of reusable cups. (2) Pressure of disposable cupping B(size.1) decreased by an average of -40.08 mmHg per 5 ml of water. At -24.8 mmHg, when 22 ml of water has been injected, cup has come off. Pressure of disposable cupping B(size. 3) decreased by an average of -99.4 mmHg per 5 ml of water. At -48.6 mmHg, when 13 ml of water was injected, cupping came off. Conclusions : Considering reduction rate of pressure due to water injection, in case of bleeding more than 15 ml, size.3 cup always comes off, therefore it needs to be re-operated at least once. Meanwhile, size.1 cup does not always come off in the same condition, depending on the initial pressure and therefore, re-operation may be considered.
