• Yeonhak Kim, Jihun Kim, Taewook Lee, Eunseok Kim, Kun Hyung Kim, and Gi Young Yang.
• Department of Acupuncture and Moxibustion Medicine, Pusan National University Korean Medicine Hospital, Mulgeum-eup, Yangsan-si, Gyeongsangnam-do, Korea.
• Medicine (Baltimore). 2023 Aug 4; 102 (31): e34067e34067.

BackgroundChronic low back pain (CLBP) is a common condition that affects millions of people worldwide. Moving cupping has gained popularity as a complementary therapy for managing CLBP owing to its noninvasive and cost-effective nature. However, the lack of objective measures to assess its therapeutic effect has been a considerable challenge in evaluating the effectiveness of moving cupping for CLBP management.MethodsWe developed a randomized controlled trial (RCT) protocol for evaluating the effectiveness of a noninvasive treatment using moving cupping by assessing muscle relaxation with shear wave elastography (SWE). It involves the recruitment of 68 patients with CLBP and randomly assigns them to either the treatment or control group. The treatment group will receive moving cupping therapy for 2 weeks, while the control group will receive placebo treatment. It will utilize SWE to evaluate muscle relaxation at baseline, after 2 weeks of treatment, and 1 week after the end of treatment. Subjective reports of pain intensity and quality of life are also recorded at each time point.DiscussionThe protocol developed here utilizes SWE to objectively measure muscle stiffness, and coupled with moving cupping therapy, may be effective in conveying relative comparisons before and after treatment. Moving cupping therapy is expected to promote muscle relaxation and pain relief in patients with CLBP. This study has the potential to contribute to the development of objective measures for evaluating the therapeutic effects of traditional therapies and to provide valuable insight into their efficacy.Copyright © 2023 the Author(s). Published by Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc.

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