Video About Tapping Exercises Falsely Linked to Tata Memorial Hospital

The woman in the video was identified as Manishaa - a consultant dietician and acupressure therapist.

Fact-Check | Woman talking about tapping exercises is not linked to Tata memorial hospital.

(Photo: The Quint)

A video showing a woman talking about tapping exercises has gone viral with a claim that Tata Memorial Hospital is advocating the practice.

The video shows the woman explaining the practice and benefits of tapping exercises.

However, we found the video was falsely attributed to the hospital. The woman in the video, identified as Dr Manishaa, is a consultant dietician and acupressure therapist at The Perfect Health, Hyderabad.

CLAIM

The video was shared with a caption that read, "Tata memorial hospital request everyone to watch this video.This is not normal forward.It is very important. Please forward the same in your group.(sic)"

An archive of the post can be found here. 

(Source: Facebook/Screenshot)

The video was shared by other social media users on Facebook and Twitter and the archives can be found here and here.

WHAT WE FOUND OUT

We extracted keyframes from the viral video using InVID WeVerify Google Chrome extension and conducted a reverse image search on some of them.

While going through the search results, we came across a different video featuring the same person on Facebook, where she was talking about exercises that would help in "increasing and maintaining oxygen level in your body".

The caption of the video said that video was shared by "The Perfect Health Hyderabad."

An archive of the post can be found here.

(Source: Facebook/Screenshot)

We conducted a keyword search for "The Perfect Health Hyderabad" and found several videos featuring the same person on Google, but the links to the videos listed on the Facebook here seemed to be broken.

Search results on Google.

(Source: Google/Screenshot)

In the search results, we found that the person was called Dr Manishaa, who is a dietician and acupressure therapist in Hyderabad-based Om Sairam Perfect Health clinic.

We also found her profile in a Silicon India Magazine that talked about her approach of treating patients. It mentioned that she founded Om Sairam Perfect Health in 1995. It didn't have any mention of Tata Memorial Hospital.

We also found a Facebook page in the name of 'The Perfect Health Hyd Koti', which featured several videos of Dr Manishaa, while Tata Memorial's website and social media handles didn't have any of these videos.

WHAT IS TAPPING?

Tapping, also known as the Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT), is an alternative treatment for physical and emotional distress. We found studies conducted on the technique and its effectiveness in managing different kinds of chronic pains.

A 2013 study conducted on the impact of EFT tapping on veterans in the USA with PTSD was published in The Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease. The study found that EFT helped in 'significantly reducing psychological distress and PTSD symptom levels.'

Another 2016 review also found a significant decrease in anxiety scores after using EFT. Similar results were found in a 2019 review where EFT showed a marked reduction in several markers such as anxiety, depression, PTSD and pain.

While the method is relatively safe, it should not replace other modalities of treatments; it is used only as a complementary form of treatment. People are also advised to speak with their doctors or a mental health professional to see if EFT/tapping is the going to benefit their specific mental health needs.

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