Hijama Practices and the Perceived Health Benefits among the People of Al-Qassim Region, Saudi Arabia

Introduction: Hijama (wet cupping therapy) is a form of traditional alternative medicine that has been in practice for thousands of years and was adopted by many different cultures. Hijama practice in the Arabic medical literature has been reported to treat many diseases differing in etiology and pathogenesis. The aim objective of this study was to determine the knowledge, attitude, and practice of Hijama among the Qassim population in Saudi Arabia. To create awareness regarding good practices and to assess the effectiveness of Hijama.

Methods: This observational type of cross-sectional survey included 201 participants who were all practising Hijama and were from the Qassim region. Data was collected using the self-administered online questionnaire and entered in Excel and analyzed using EpiInfo7 statistical software.

Results: Most of the study participants were female 70%. About 39% of them have a bachelor's degree. 61% know Hijama contradictions. Hijama was performed by traditional healers in 14% of the participants and at Hijama centers by 64% of the participants. About 72% of the participants notice effectiveness by practising Hijama. Only 7% of them had suffered complications.

Conclusion: The study revealed Hijama can be a simple effective economic alternative treatment that can be used to treat many ailments like back, shoulder, neck pain, headache and migraine pain. It is associated with a minimal side effect. There is still a need to create awareness among the people to go for clinical centres to perform Hijama. Future research is needed to support its therapeutic benefits.