Anita Tadavarthy starts off her video by asking her viewers, “Did you poop today?” She then goes on to share that nearly 20% of people are constipated (the National Institutes of Health puts that number at 12%).
“It (the prevalence) blows my mind,” the acupuncturist continues. “All you’ve got to do is just do this,” she adds demonstrating the hand rubbing motion which has its roots in traditional acupressure (the Chinese practice of using pressure points in different parts of your body to relieve pain, digestive issues, and other health concerns). Acupressure is acupuncture minus the needles. Large Intestine 4 is one of many other pressure points associated with constipation relief. Stretch out your hand with your thumb pointing outward and your other four fingers close together and touch the soft skin between your thumb and forefinger. This is Large Intestine 4. According to Healthline, you can simply apply pressure to this point in circular motions (first on one hand and then the other), without rubbing both points together with your thumbs pointing outward and the rest of your fingers in a ball as illustrated in the TikTok video.
“Couple [of] minutes, couple [of] times a day, or while sitting on the toilet and you’ll have a bowel movement. So easy,” Tadavarthy shared. In an interview with BuzzFeed News, she revealed that she learned this hack while in graduate school and has seen it work on patients who visited her free clinic near Hyderabad, India.
