Cupping therapy is a pseudoscientific treatment method in which a local suction is created on the skin by using heated cups. As an alternative medicine practice, it is primarily used in Asia, but it is also used in Eastern Europe, the Middle East, and Latin America. There is no conclusive evidence supporting the claimed health benefits of cupping, and critics have characterized the practice as quackery.

Cupping practitioners attempt to use cupping therapy for a wide array of medical conditions including fevers, chronic low back pain, poor appetite, indigestion, high blood pressure, acne, atopic dermatitis, psoriasis, anemia, stroke rehabilitation, nasal congestion, infertility, and menstrual period cramping.

Despite the numerous ailments for which practitioners claim cupping therapy is useful, there is insufficient evidence demonstrating any health benefits. Cupping is generally not harmful for most people. However, there are some risks of harm, especially from wet cupping and fire cupping. Bruising and skin discoloration are among the adverse effects of cupping and are sometimes mistaken for child abuse. In rare instances, the presence of these marks on children has led to legal action against parents who had their children receive cupping therapy.

The origin of cupping is unclear. Iranian traditional medicine uses wet-cupping practices, with the belief that cupping with scarification may eliminate scar tissue, and cupping without scarification would cleanse the body through the organs.

In ancient Greece, Hippocrates (c. 460 – c. 370 BC) used cupping for internal disease and structural problems, and Roman surgeons used it for bloodletting. The method was highly recommended by Islamic Prophet Muhammad and hence well-practiced by Muslim scientists who elaborated and developed the method further. Consequently, this method in its multiple forms spread into medicine throughout Asian and European civilizations. In China, the earliest use of cupping that is recorded is from the Taoist alchemist and herbalist Ge Hong (281–341 AD). Cupping was also mentioned in Maimonides' book on health and was used within the Eastern European Jewish community. William Osler recommended its use for pneumonia and acute myelitis in the early twentieth century.

The practice has been used in hospitals in China since the 1950s as a traditional Chinese medicine modality.

The American Cancer Society notes that "available scientific evidence does not support claims that cupping has any health benefits" and also that the treatment carries a small risk of burns. A review of literature in 2011 determined that "the effectiveness of cupping is currently not well-documented for most conditions", and that systematic reviews showing efficacy for the treatment of pain "were based mostly on poor quality primary studies." This was further supported by a review in 2014 which demonstrated that previous evidence supporting cupping has resulted from "unreasonable design and poor research quality". There is a lack of evidence to support the use of cupping therapy for acne. Additionally, cupping is often practiced along with other acupuncture therapies and therefore cannot exclusively account for resultant positive benefits. Many reviews suggest there is insufficient scientific evidence to support the use of cupping techniques to combat relevant diseases and chronic pain. Cupping has been characterized as quackery.

The lack of apparent benefits of cupping treatments are discussed by Simon Singh and Edzard Ernst in their 2008 book Trick or Treatment.