Lower Adverse Effects and Pain: Study Supports Fire Needle and Cupping in Herpes Zoster Treatment

For this purpose, the researchers conducted a randomized controlled trial involving 84 AHZ patients meeting diagnostic criteria. Participants were randomly assigned to three groups on a 1:1 basis. Group A received oral famciclovir and gabapentin (FG), while Group B received a combination of fire needle plus cupping (FC) alongside FG treatment.

The primary outcome was the difference in pain levels, measured by the Visual Analog Scale (VAS). Secondary outcomes included changes in sign-symptom scores, adverse effect incidence, and PHN occurrence.

Based on the study, the researchers reported the following findings:

• Both groups experienced reduced VAS and symptom-sign scores after one week of treatment compared to baseline.
• Group B showed a significantly greater reduction in VAS scores than Group A.
• Symptom-sign score improvements were significantly better in Group B compared to Group A.
• Adverse reaction rates were higher in Group A (21.95%) than in Group B (4.76%), with a significant difference.
• The incidence of PHN was significantly lower in Group B (4.76%) compared to Group A (29.27%).

The authors concluded that combining fire needles and cupping with medication offers better pain relief and symptom improvement for AHZ than medication alone. This suggests that fire needles and cupping can serve as an effective complementary therapy, enhancing treatment outcomes and safety.

They emphasized that this approach should supplement standard drug treatments, not replace them. The authors also acknowledged the absence of a sham control group, which may have influenced the results, and recommended future studies include such controls to confirm these findings.

Reference:

Zhang, Y., Jing, M., Wang, L. et al. Combining fire needle plus cupping with famciclovir and gabapentin in the treatment of acute herpes zoster: a revised intervention approach. Arch Dermatol Res 317, 112 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00403-024-03628-3