NCT06653855

The Effect of Cupping on Spasticity and Function of the Lower Extremity During Rehabilitation After Stroke

• Status: Recruiting
• Phase: N/A
• Study type: Interventional
• Enrollment: 30 (estimated)
• Sponsor: Scott Getsoian · Industry
• Sex: All
• Age: 30 Years – 80 Years
• Healthy volunteers: Not accepted

Summary

Physical therapists use dry static cupping for the treatment of many conditions, including spasticity for patients post-stroke. While research better describes the effects of dry static cupping for patients with orthopedic conditions, information is lacking on central conditions, such as stroke and resulting spasticity.

Detailed description

Cupping is an ancient alternative medicine. A common form of cupping, called dry static cupping, involves creating negative pressure inside a therapeutic cup. The cup is then placed on the skin, creating a light suction effect. In Eastern Medicine, cupping has been used to treat a variety of diseases. More recently, in Western society, cupping has been used after injury, and among other effects, has been found to improve blood volume and tissue oxygenation to an area. These effects have originally been thought to be peripheral in nature, occurring at the cupping site, hence, why cupping has been used for treatment for conditions like carpal tunnel syndrome, spinal pain, knee osteoarthritis, and other musculoskeletal conditions. However, a recent systematic review found cupping to be beneficial for rehabilitation after stroke. These conclusions raise the question of a possible mechanism for cupping to improve impairments related to the central nervous system, such as spasticity after stroke. However, many of the studies to date have serious methodological flaws that limit the direct causation of cupping to the reduction of spasticity. As well, the majority of studies only involve the upper extremity. No study has yet looked at the therapeutic effects of dry static cupping on lower extremity spasticity reduction after stroke.

Conditions

• Stroke Gait Rehabilitation

Interventions

Type	Name	Description
OTHER	Dry Static Cupping	A myofascial decompression cupping set with a precision pressure pump will be used to perform dry static cupping to the adductor and hamstring muscle groups of the affected limb, using a negative pressure of 300mmHg for eight minutes each.
OTHER	Placebo cupping	The same protocol will be used as stated for the Dry static cupping intervention, with the only difference being that the cup will be pumped to 50mmHg instead of 300mmHg.
OTHER	Standard physical therapy treatment	Treatment will consist of typical physical therapy interventions performed for patients with spasticity of the lower extremity after stroke. These may include, but not be limited to: * Balance exercise * Therapeutic exercise * Neuromuscular/muscular coordination exercise * Manual (hands on) therapy * Gait training The treating physical therapist is left with the autonomy of the standard physical therapy treatment (within the above stated groups of interventions) because patients with the diagnosis of stroke do not all present with the same type or level of impairment. Furthermore co-morbidities (e.g., hypertension) and/or functional level (wheelchair bound vs. independent ambulator) may necessitate different treatment strategies. Therefore, while the general categories of treatment will remain the same across all study patients, it is expected that the treating physical therapist provides patient-specific interventions.

Timeline

• Start date: 2024-12-01
• Primary completion: 2026-01-01
• Completion: 2026-01-01
• First posted: 2024-10-22
• Last updated: 2024-12-13

Locations

1 site across 1 country: United States