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We explored if individuals exhibit negative emotions and attentional bias towards painful marks left by cupping therapy on the body, as some patients find it challenging due to skin discoloration. Despite its medical advantages, fear of discomfort during cupping may lead to heightened vigilance towards pain-related cues.
Fifty volunteers underwent visual stimulation involving various body regions with or without cupping marks. Eye movements were tracked as they viewed paired images on a screen, while their empathy levels were assessed beforehand. Participants also rated the unpleasantness of each image during the task.
Cupping therapy, a popular alternative treatment, is often used for pain relief by improving skin microcirculation. The therapy creates negative pressure, stretching the skin and increasing blood flow, leading to temporary circular red marks. Despite being harmless, these marks can evoke negative emotions in some patients. Research indicates that individuals may exhibit aversion to these marks, possibly due to attentional bias towards pain-related information. Eye-tracking studies suggest that chronic pain sufferers display increased vigilance towards pain stimuli, potentially influencing their response to cupping therapy. The current study employs eye-tracking to explore whether cupping therapy triggers negative emotions and attentional bias towards pain-related stimuli on the back and face.
This study aimed to explore attentional bias towards pain-related information induced by cupping therapy using eye-tracking. Results showed that images of cupping marks on the body triggered significant negative reactions compared to control images, with participants exhibiting greater attentional bias towards cupping marks. Higher empathy was associated with less attentional bias. The findings imply emotional and attentional responses to cupping therapy may reflect reluctance towards these marks. Eye-tracking data revealed greater attentional bias towards cupping marks on the back and face, consistent with previous research on attentional responses to painful stimuli. The vigilance-avoidance hypothesis suggests an initial attentional bias towards potentially harmful stimuli, which may explain participants’ reactions to cupping therapy images. Attentional bias was unexpectedly higher in the back region compared to the face, possibly due to variations in the number of cupping marks presented. Further research exploring attentional bias towards painful stimuli on different body sites is warranted.
In our study, participants viewed images of others undergoing cupping therapy, revealing that those with higher EQ scores experienced more discomfort and showed less attentional focus on the treated body part. Empathy plays a crucial role in vicarious responses to pain, with more empathetic individuals exhibiting heightened unpleasantness and avoidance behavior towards cupping therapy. Fear of forthcoming pain influences attentional bias towards cupping-related discomfort, while prior experience with cupping may mitigate fear. However, no significant difference in attentional bias was observed between experienced and inexperienced participants. Several limitations were noted, including the need for a more diverse participant pool, alternative measures of visual attention beyond eye-tracking, consideration of different cupping mark types, and inclusion of chronic pain patients in future studies. Overall, our findings suggest a negative emotional response and attentional bias towards cupping therapy marks, highlighting the importance of understanding patient aversion for effective clinical management.
Source:
Minyoung Hong, In-Seon Lee, Dha-Hyun Choi & Younbyoung Chae (2020) Attentional Bias Toward Cupping Therapy Marks: An Eye-Tracking Study, Journal of Pain Research, 13:, 1041-1047, DOI: 10.2147/JPR.S252675