A viral video along with a text message falsely claims that tapping the elbow of a man who appears to have a heart attack will help the person recover from it. Even though traditional Chinese medicine does talk about tapping elbows for blood circulation, there is no scientific theory supporting that it allows circulation in blood.
BOOM spoke to Dr. Charan Lanjewar, a cardiologist who said heart attacks are caused due to blockages in blood and tapping will not clear a blockage.
The message that tapping elbows will help recovery comes along with a video that shows an unconscious man and people tapping his elbow after which he is seen to regain consciousness. The claim with the video is that the man suffered a heart attack at a theatre in Singapore and another person tapped his elbow to restart blood circulation.
The message reads, "A sudden heart attack in a Singapore theater. Doctors and assistants in Singapore slapped the patient's inner elbow and he recovered after about 2 minutes. This video gives you advice on emergency situations to pay attention to heart patients and how to deal with a heart attack that usually happens suddenly. By slapping the inner elbow of the left hand as shown in the video, it stimulates the three acupressure points around the left side which are related to the heart and lungs. Slapping will speed up blood circulation, which makes the person feel warm and stops sweating."
BOOM received the video on its WhatsApp helpline asking for verification.
The message is also viral on social media.
Fact Check
BOOM spoke to Dr. Charan Lanjewar, a cardiologist at KEM and Global Hospitals who debunked this myth.
"Heart attacks are caused by blockages in the blood supply. A person normally does not tend to fall unconscious unless there are multiple heart attacks. People who suffer from heart attacks also move around. So firstly, that is not true," the cardiologist said.
Furthermore, he also said that people could fall unconscious if it were a cardiac arrest which is caused due to an electrical reaction and stops the pumping of the heart. Doctors advise that CPR- cardiac pulmonary resuscitation should be given to patients who collapse and their heart stops beating.
"Even if a cardiac arrest, there is no scientific theory wherein elbows should be tapped for a person to regain consciousness," the cardiologist added.
In Chinese traditional medicine, tapping elbows is said to improve blood circulation. However, this school of traditional medicine does not talk about tapping body organs helping in recovering from heart attacks.
BOOM has not been able to independently verify where the viral video is originally from.