IoT-Enabled Nitric Oxide Detection System for Cupping Therapy: Design and Experimental Validation

Cupping therapy, a traditional healing practice, involves suction to draw blood to the skin's surface and is performed as dry cupping therapy (DCT) or wet cupping therapy (WCT). Despite its widespread use, the gaseous emissions during these therapies and their physiological effects remain underexplored. This study presents an IoT-enabled Nitric Oxide (NO) detection system to monitor gas release dynamics in DCT and WCT. The system integrates NO sensors with air quality (MQ135) and natural gas (MQ5) sensors for real-time data acquisition and analysis. Experiments at three skin points measured gas levels before and after therapy, revealing that WCT, which includes medicinal bleeding, produces significantly higher NO emissions and peak sensor values than DCT. These findings demonstrate the system's capability to capture and analyze gas release patterns effectively. This work provides insights into the gaseous by-products of cupping therapy and offers a technological basis for advancing health monitoring in traditional medical practices.