Can fascia gun be used to treat hemorrhoids?

gossip

The fascia gun can not only be used to relax muscles after exercise, but also can be used to treat hemorrhoids.

analyze

Judging from the pathogenesis of hemorrhoids and current treatment methods, it is not feasible to use a fascia gun to treat hemorrhoids in principle, and there are certain risks, so please don't do it. Recently, someone shared a new method of treating hemorrhoids on social media: using a fascia gun to treat hemorrhoids. Obviously, the concept of long-term illness as a doctor is deeply rooted in people's minds. Many people have alleviated their illnesses through methods they have personally tested, but when we hear this kind of news, we have to clarify two things: First, is there a causal relationship between this treatment method and symptom relief? Second, can this method become a treatment method that can be widely promoted?

Copyrighted stock images, no reproduction is authorized

Is there a causal relationship?

Does using a fascia gun to treat hemorrhoids really work? Before discussing this issue, we first need to know what methods of treating hemorrhoids are recognized by the medical community? In terms of methods of treating hemorrhoids, they can be roughly divided into two categories: the first category is to remove the pathogenic factors of hemorrhoids; the second category is the treatment of hemorrhoids themselves. Regarding the pathogenic factors, we can understand how hemorrhoids appear from an evolutionary perspective. For animals with rectal and anal structures, the anus is facing backwards during daily activities, so the rectum is in a horizontal position and the pressure in the rectal cavity is relatively small. Humans are very special. In the process of evolution, they have formed an upright walking posture. Therefore, in daily life, the rectum is often in a vertical position, and the pressure in the rectal cavity is high.

Copyrighted stock images, no reproduction is authorized

If this high rectal cavity pressure exists for a long time, it will cause a structure called "anal cushion" in the rectum to move downward, which will cause hemorrhoids. Therefore, there is a surgical method that raises the anal cushion to its normal position by circularly removing the rectal mucosa, so as to remove the pathogenic factors of hemorrhoids and achieve the therapeutic effect. As for the second type of treatment, there are many types of treatment for hemorrhoids themselves. For example, by injecting a sclerosant to make hemorrhoids necrotic, using a drug-made hemorrhoid nail to insert into the hemorrhoids, the purpose of making hemorrhoids necrotic can also be achieved, and the rubber band ligation method is to use a small rubber band to tie the root of the hemorrhoids tightly, so that it will be ischemic and necrotic and fall off.

In addition, there are infrared coagulation, cryotherapy, laser therapy, microwave therapy and other methods, all of which are aimed at hemorrhoids themselves. Of course, surgical resection is the most direct and effective method. Now we know that if we want to treat hemorrhoids, we must either surgically circumcise the rectal mucosa, or remove the hemorrhoids or use various methods to make them necrotic and fall off. Obviously, when dealing with hemorrhoids, we must not be "soft-hearted". These treatments are all aimed at making the hemorrhoids "necrotic". The method of using a fascia gun to hit hemorrhoids cannot make the hemorrhoids necrotic, at best it can make them "half dead". So the question is, what will happen to the "half-dead" hemorrhoids? Before discussing this issue, we still need to clarify what hemorrhoids are?

Copyrighted stock images, no reproduction is authorized

According to the surgical books, hemorrhoids are "soft venous masses formed by congestion, expansion and tortuosity of the venous plexus under the mucosa of the lower rectum, the anal canal and the skin under the anal margin". But the problem is, if hemorrhoids are tortuous veins, then the bleeding caused by hemorrhoids should be dark red venous blood. However, anyone who has bled due to hemorrhoids knows that the bleeding of hemorrhoids is bright in color, which is different from the color of venous blood drawn during physical examinations. Perhaps there are arteries in hemorrhoids. But in any case, arteries and veins are blood vessels, and there is no doubt that veins are tortuous blood vessels.

Now, the question of "whether using a fascia gun to treat hemorrhoids will work" has become a more understandable question: what will happen if you repeatedly hit the tortuous blood vessels? For blood vessels, especially the rich and fragile blood vessels around the anus and under the mucosa at the lower end of the rectum, this high-frequency and repeated attack may cause a consequence, that is, the blood vessels in the hemorrhoids will rupture and bleed.

The blood that flows out may coagulate in the hemorrhoids, forming a dark purple blood clot, usually in a round ball shape. This blood clot pulls on the surrounding tissues, causing extremely severe pain. Yes, this is a very common disease in anorectal surgery, called "thrombosed external hemorrhoids", which can only be solved by surgical resection. Although the vast majority of thrombosed external hemorrhoids are not caused by bleeding caused by the fascia gun, bleeding caused by various reasons may cause thrombosed external hemorrhoids.

Simple summary: Hemorrhoids contain blood vessels, and the vascular structure is very fragile. Although attacking the blood vessels may feel good for a while, the consequences may be very serious.

Can this approach be extended?

We just discussed that there are risks in the method of using a fascia gun to treat hemorrhoids, but risks are only risks after all, and they are not certain to happen. So is it possible for friends who use this method to alleviate symptoms? Perhaps there is. For anorectal surgeons, when facing some patients with severe swelling of hemorrhoids, or severe edema in the affected area after surgery, manual massage can be used to relieve edema.

When using this massage method, you must use a lot of lubricants, and the technique must be particularly gentle, and the edema can be eliminated through long and slow massage. It is not difficult to understand that this method is not popular with doctors. But when we understand this method, it is easy to think that this may provide a reasonable basis for the use of fascia guns to treat hemorrhoids. But the problem is that the doctor's massage technique is particularly gentle, and the strength is far less than that of the fascia gun, so these two methods should not be equated.

Copyrighted stock images, no reproduction is authorized

From another perspective, the characteristics of the occurrence and development of hemorrhoids are long course, slow progression, and easy recurrence. In fact, for most people, after realizing that they have hemorrhoids, they may not cause much trouble in their lives for a long time, and even if they are not treated during this period, the condition may still be mild or severe.

Simply put, hemorrhoids may be relieved on their own, and may not be directly related to the fascia gun. We cannot rule out the possibility that some patients do experience relief of hemorrhoid symptoms and feel better after using this method, but if we want to prove the correlation between the two, we still have to adhere to the concept of evidence-based medicine and verify it through randomized double-blind multicenter studies. Before such a study appears, we should not promote this method as a new technology for general use.

in conclusion

First, there is no clear correlation between the impact of the fascia gun and the improvement of hemorrhoids. On the contrary, based on the pathogenesis of hemorrhoids, we can infer that this method is likely to aggravate the condition.

Second, individual cases that have not been verified by experiments cannot be used as a basis for universal promotion, and the same applies to the method of using a fascia gun to treat hemorrhoids.

This article is a work of Science Popularization China-Starry Sky Project

Produced by: Science Popularization Department of China Association for Science and Technology

Producer｜China Science and Technology Press Co., Ltd., Beijing Zhongke Xinghe Culture Media Co., Ltd.

Author: Sun Yifei, Director of the Medical Education History Research Office, Hebei Medical University

Review | Tang Qin, Chief Researcher, Science Popularization Department, Chinese Medical Association