Meng, Xiu-Dong, Guo, Hao-Ran, Zhang, Qing-Ying et al. · Complementary therapies in clinical practice · 2020 · DOI
This study tested whether cupping therapy—a traditional treatment where cups create suction on the skin—could help people with ME/CFS feel less tired. Researchers divided 112 patients into three groups that received different levels of suction and compared the results. After 10 sessions over 5 weeks, all groups reported improvements in fatigue and sleep, with 10 sessions working better than 5 sessions, though the pressure levels didn't make much difference.
This research explores a non-pharmacological treatment option for ME/CFS fatigue, which is important because pharmaceutical options are limited and many patients seek complementary approaches. Understanding whether cupping provides genuine benefit versus placebo effect remains clinically relevant for shared decision-making with patients exploring treatment options.
This study does not prove that cupping therapy is superior to placebo, as there was no control group receiving sham cupping or standard care. The improvements observed could partly reflect placebo effect, natural variation, or regression to the mean. The single-blind design (patients but not assessors masked) also introduces potential bias in subjective fatigue reporting.
About the PEM badge: “PEM required” means post-exertional malaise was an explicit required diagnostic criterion for participant inclusion in this study — not that PEM was studied, observed, or discussed. Studies using criteria that do not require PEM (e.g. Fukuda, Oxford) are tagged “PEM not required”. How the atlas works →
The first block is for the primary paper and is the citation you should use in research work. The atlas-snapshot line only applies if you are specifically referring to this atlas’s reading of the paper on the date shown.
Primary citation
Meng, Xiu-Dong, Guo, Hao-Ran, Zhang, Qing-Ying, Li, Xin, Chen, Yong, Li, Mu-Yang, et al. (2020). The effectiveness of cupping therapy on chronic fatigue syndrome: A single-blind randomized controlled trial.. Complementary therapies in clinical practice. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ctcp.2020.101210
BibTeX
@article{mecfsatlas-meng-2020-effectiveness-cupping,
author = {Meng, Xiu-Dong and Guo, Hao-Ran and Zhang, Qing-Ying and Li, Xin and Chen, Yong and Li, Mu-Yang and Zhuo, Xue-Mao and Wang, Mei-Juan and Shan, Kai and Gong, Yi-Nan and Li, Ning-Cen and Chen, Bo and Chen, Ze-Lin and Guo, Yi},
title = {The effectiveness of cupping therapy on chronic fatigue syndrome: A single-blind randomized controlled trial.},
journal = {Complementary therapies in clinical practice},
year = {2020},
doi = {10.1016/j.ctcp.2020.101210},
note = {PubMed: 32891286},
url = {https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/meng-2020-effectiveness-cupping},
}Atlas snapshot reference
ME/CFS Atlas. Generator v1 / Scanner v1.4 / policy v0.1. Accessed 2026-05-30. https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/meng-2020-effectiveness-cupping
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