It is not uncommon for people of different countries, races, religions, cultural or ethnic groups to have some peculiarly weird practices or beliefs that are yet to find plausible explanations in the science world. Some of these beliefs are exported as people move about from one racial/religious/cultural niche to another and as a result, the beliefs spread among the world's population. After all, the world is a global place.
The weird beliefs or practices cut across diverse areas of human endeavours including marriage, health, occupation and a host of other areas. While some indulge in these practices out of sheer ignorance, a whole lot of other people just refuse to listen to any voice of reasoning and will always pass on a chance of being redeemed from their abyss of ignorance.
For example, while evidence abounds on the geoidal shape of the earth and the effectiveness of vaccines against several diseases, some Homo sapiens still stuck to their beliefs that the earth is flat and vaccines are harmful. They do not just stop at that but always concort one or two conspiracy theory to back their beliefs.
As some of you are already aware, my wife and I were blessed with a new addition to the family about 4 months ago. One of the cultural practices among the Yoruba ethnic group is to visit friends, families, and well-wishers with the newly-born baby after fourty-one days of birth. It was during one of those visits I had a close shave with a somewhat popular but scientifically baseless medical practice - Hijama.
The visit was to my parent-in-laws which happens to be about 4-6 hours drive from my crib depending on the traffic. Having informed them beforehand about the visit, it became somehow sacrosanct for me to make it a date or risk being tagged a bad son-in-law. Hence, when I woke up feeling some muscular pains around my neck on the proposed day of the visit, I had no option but to manage and make the trip.
My father-in-law, even though happy to see us and the new baby could not but noticed my discomfort - the pain had been aggravated by the rigours of driving for a long time. I explained to him how I woke up with a muscular pain around my neck and how the trip made it worse. This was when the topic of Hijama came up. He took his time to explain to me how pseudoscience practice cured some of the body pains he had and he was about booking an Hijama appointment for me when I surreptitously cut him short and steered the topic away from the subject.
Even though my father-in-law is an educated man, I could not but wondered how he ended up not just as an advocate but a partaker of such practice.
Hijama - What is it?
Hijama is a derivative of the Arabic word Hajm which means 'sucking'. Hence, Hijama itself refers to what is generally known as cupping therapy - a practice during which cups are applied to the skins in different areas of the human body after which suction is used to create a vacuum within the cup, pulling the skin up and increasing blood circulation to the area in the process. This makes the cupped area to appear reddish after the action.
A human undergoing Hijama. By Iwansw - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, link
In a particular version of this practice, the cupped points of the body are just left for the marks to heal naturally. This is otherwise known as dry cupping. In another version, while the red marks are still fresh and after temporarily removing the cups, tiny incisions are made in the cupped points, the cups replaced and the vacuum created using an appropriate tool. From the incised points and as a result of pressure, blood is drawn out into the cups. This blood is generally believed by the Hijama proponents to be harmful or toxic to the body and its removal has the capacity to heal the body of various ailments. This version is specifically known as wet cupping.
Other type of this pseudoscience practice include the one in which oil is applied to the skin surface before administering cups so as to ensure easy movement of the cups on the skin surface (dry/wet massage cupping) and the one in which fire is used to create negative pressures in cups before applying them to the skin (fire cupping).
If you are wondering which one of those cuppings my father-in-law proposed that I undergo in order to treat my neck pain, it is the wet-cupping Hijama. If I had not dodged the idea because it has no scientific backings, I would have still opted out simply because I cringe at the sight of blood.
Hijama from Scientific POV
The proponents of Hijama believe that it has the capacity to heal any form of diseases. It is not uncommon to find the dry cupping enthusiasts saying that about 70% of diseases, pains and ailments are as a result of blood been unable to reach or properly circulate to ailing part of the body. Hence, cupping will increase circulation to the area and miraculously heals the ailing parts.
The belief which has been in practice thousands of years ago started receiving attention from several scientific quarters/researcher in modern times as a result of its adoption by some sports celebrities such as the National Football League player DeMarcus and the multiple Olympic gold medalists, Michael Phelps. Some regions of the world (including the United Kingdom) actually have a dedicated clinic for this prctice. Funny, isn't it? If you think I am just bluffing, watch the video of Hijamah being performed in Hijama clinic in Cardiff
here.
However, most of the scientific publications on the practice are either outrightly negative with emphasis on its adverse effects or somewhat positive but based on poor scientific/clinical evidence.
Hijama cup showing the cupped blood. The blood is believed to be filled with toxins and dead cells. By Iwansw - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, link
Studies have shown that people that engage in Hijama are at risks of being at the receiving end of anemia, post-inflammatory hyperpigmentation, keloid, epidural abscess, hemorrhagic stroke, factitial panniculitis and herpes viral infections. While the practice has been reported to be of use in the therapy of a wide range of ill-healths such as pains, cardiovascular diseases, immune system and metabolic diseases; clinical evidence only supports the effectiveness of this practice on very few of these diseases.
Final Thoughts
Any one-size-fits-all approach to solving scientific problems will mostly always end up as being a pseudo-solution. That cupping out some blood has the capacity to heal a wide range of ailments in the human seems incompatible with human reasoning and laughable. I will love to be proved wrong with continuous scientific inquiries into the subject.
Pseudoscience practices have led to a lot of irreparable damages to lives and properties. It is quite unbelievable that in the 21st Century where information is at everyone's fingertips, some people still deliberately chose to wallow in ignorance.
Say no to pseudoscience and thank you all for reading this article.
Further Reading
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Hijama, imagine making incisions in different part of someone's body? I was even thinking Hijama ia a lady's name until I read
At first, just the cupping part seemed innocent enough... aside from the fact that some people are turning down sound medical treatment for it. But, I had to cringe a little at the thought of poking holes in my skin and sucking blood out of them.
Well, just when I thought that bloodletting had fallen out of practice, I encounter this new version. Even the dry-cupping variant sounds dangerous, I imagine it has the potential to cause a stroke by clotting the blood and creating an embolus capable of traveling to the brain. I'm glad you refrained from trying it!
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