Hijama or cupping therapy is receiving popularity among residents as a number of patients suffering from various chronic diseases particularly the pains and spasms are opting for this alternative medicine.
Hijama is a centuries old Islamic and Chinese therapeutic tradition to treat various ailments through bloodletting. To redirect blood of body to the area of skin where a small, tinny cut is made, a vacuum is created with the help of cups. Therefore it is also called “cupping therapy”.
Apart from one licensed clinic — Abu Teeba Cupping Centre — at Al Jasra, many other practitioners are providing Hijama services. Nausheena Shaikh is one of them. With a five-year experience after certification in cupping therapy from India, she is offering services to patients here in Qatar for the last two years.
Talking to The Peninsula, Nausheena said that people were embracing Hijama as it was Islamic tradition. “Mostly, patients with muscular spasms and pains ask for Hijama treatment. Usually one treatment session of Hijama with tiny incisions on multiple points at the back is enough to bring relief and cure,” she added.
She offers services without any clinic or centre. “Patients may visit my home or I pay visit to their place in case they are very old, sick etc. All the material including cups and scalpel are discarded after one-time use,” she said. To a question regarding legal status of performing Hijama, she replied that the practitioner must be certified. She also said that mostly Hijama was done on back but it could be done on other parts of body like head, foot etc.
“Generally Hijama is done on the area of pain or problem. Special cups are put on the skin for few minutes to create suction prior to making light cuts for bloodletting," she said.
Recently, cupping therapy made international headlines when Michael Phelps depended upon it to boost performance during Rio Olympics. Another Hijama practitioner noted that as per his experience, some patients required cupping multiple times to get maximum benefit and fast recovery. “That is why in first session 8 cups plan on the back gives best results,” he adds.
Muhammad Mazhar Yasin, a former Hijama practitioner, said he had quit practicing around two-years ago. “After qualification, one must be registered with the Ministry of Public Health to practice it. Among other conditions for the registration, one is that you cannot adopt the profession part time. One must be a full time practitioner having an affiliation with any medical establishment,” he noted.
A patient who recently had Hijama for lumbago said due to present day life style, pollution and contaminated food, it was necessary to get rid of toxins and there was no better drainage than Hijama.
