Miracles Should Not Be Expected From This Medicine

Sujok is a complementary medicine method that relies on stimulating points on the hands and feet. Proponents believe that parts of the hands and feet are connected to various parts of the body, and that stimulating specific points can affect the symptoms or function of the corresponding organs.

According to Ambassador Arjan, quoting Irani, a small seed, a few pieces of glue, sometimes a colored rubber band, and a hand and foot that hurt them, these simple tools have become one of the most popular versions of self-treatment in social networks in recent days.

The name of this method is "Sujuk", a method whose followers say that by stimulating certain points on the hands and feet, different parts of the body can be affected. The videos are simple and the promises are big, find a spot, press on it, stick a lentil or mashi seed or stimulate it and wait for the pain to subside or the problem to improve.

Sometimes colored bands are tied to different fingers for a while, blue band for weight loss, purple band for diabetes, but behind these simple images there is an important question, where is the border between a complementary method and medical science?

Sujok is a complementary medicine method that relies on stimulating points in the hands and feet. Proponents of this method believe that parts of the hands and feet are connected to different parts of the body, and stimulation of certain points can affect the symptoms or function of the related organs. This feature has made Sujok a suitable method for virtual space because it does not require complex equipment and a special treatment environment. In many published videos, the user can perform this type of treatment at home with simple tools. But the simplicity of a method does not mean that all claims related to it have been proven.

Alireza Abbasian, a specialist in Iranian medicine and a member of the academic staff of Tehran University of Medical Sciences, says that Sujok is a treatment method that is traditionally used in Korea, saying: "Sojok is composed of two parts Su and Jok, which means hand and low. In this method, it is claimed that the stimulation of some points of the hands and feet can cure diseases or can have a diagnostic aspect.

If those points are painful, this method can be done with direct pressure or with needles, or it can be accompanied by a method called "site therapy" that plant seeds such as pepper seeds or wheat seeds are attached to points on the hands and feet, and by local stimulation of that point, it is claimed that they cause therapeutic effects.

According to this Iranian medical expert, Sojuk should be classified among reflexology therapies. He says: "We see this state widely in Chinese medicine, they believe that points of the body affect other organs through paths called "meridins" and the stimulation of these points, which is now specifically done with needles in Chinese acupuncture, causes interactions in the rest of the body. If these steps are done correctly, it can have healing properties according to what is claimed in Chinese acupuncture."

One of the most important challenges in facing Sujok is to separate the claims of therapists and users from the points that scientific studies have shown. But the existence of one or more studies, especially studies with limited sample size, does not mean to prove the effectiveness of a method for all diseases. In medicine, a treatment claim becomes credible when it is tested in multiple studies of appropriate quality, in different groups of patients, and compared to standard treatments or sham procedures.

Complementary methods do not necessarily mean worthless or dangerous methods. Some complementary methods for some symptoms, especially in the area of pain control or relaxation, have been the subject of scientific research.

But even about well-known complementary methods, experts advise that one should not use them to delay seeing a doctor or abandon proven treatment. Abbasian believes that nowadays when we talk about Korean medicine or Sojuk or acupuncture, they are all classified in the category of complementary medicine. He says: "These cases cannot replace standard treatment methods in any way. There are clinical studies about Sujok, but these clinical studies are very limited in number and are usually conducted with small sample sizes or case studies that do not provide a very high level of evidence. In any case, it has been seen that Sujok therapy techniques have shown positive effects in controlling some pains, such as backaches, some muscle pains, headaches, or some digestive problems.

According to Abbasian, Sujok therapy as a complementary method can be somewhat helpful if used by a trained person, but we should not abandon standard treatments and use Sojok therapy directly to treat headaches or back pain. This complementary medicine specialist says: "A simple back pain can have various causes, from simple cramping of the back muscles to cancer in the vertebral column can cause back pain. Very dangerous and urgent diseases such as "abdominal aortic aneurysm" in which the aorta is rupturing can also appear with throbbing back pain. Therefore, in the treatment of diseases, we must first use the standard treatment path, which is the modern medicine treatments, and reach a diagnosis, and if a doctor specializing in traditional complementary medicine determines that there is no problem with using complementary methods alongside a neurologist, we can use these methods. According to Abbasian, when we say that you should be very careful about back pain, which is a common and simple disease, we should be careful not to go for complementary methods such as Sojuk alone in the case of diseases such as diabetes or types of cancer that require more complications and require aggressive treatments.

Abbasian emphasizes: "Sometimes people deceive themselves and try to ignore their problem instead of solving it, or if they need a more difficult treatment because they are worried about that difficult treatment such as chemotherapy, they abandon it and go to it with the hope that there is a complementary treatment method like Sojuk." This is the reason that their diseases are not treated with simpler treatment methods, by resorting to complementary treatment methods, they also lose the golden time of disease treatment, and finally, the person faces the severe spread of the disease and various metastases, or, for example, in the case of diabetes, with the destruction of retinal tissue and kidneys." This specialist in complementary medicine says: "Seeing these side effects, people just come to their senses and want to start treatment, so these complementary methods, including Sujok, do not replace the main treatment and cannot replace the main treatment."

According to Abbasian, there is another problem with complementary methods, sometimes there are people who make strange claims and deceive people for various purposes, such as generating income, and claim that it is possible to treat diabetes, obesity and slimming, or cancer with Sujok. These cases are very dangerous because it has not yet been proven that Sujok can cure these diseases. He says: "If we see a person who has a problem and gets better after using Sujok therapy, we may wonder if this improvement can be definitively attributed to Sujok?" I have no objection to using sujukotherapy as a complementary method, but any treatment method that has been partially proven to be effective can be used as a complementary treatment.

There are people who have problems and may have tried different treatment methods and got results, but we cannot say that only one specific method made them recover. A person may have used other treatment methods at the same time as Sujok. People in the condition of illness sometimes become desperate and listen to various advices and try every way that is suggested to them. If the point of effectiveness of the treatment coincides with the initiation of Sujok, it cannot be concluded solely on the basis of this coincidence that Sujok caused the improvement. According to this complementary medicine specialist, sometimes a treatment method is effective on one person and does not have the same effect on another person. For this reason, in medicine, to check the effectiveness of a method, clinical trial studies are conducted on a certain number of people so that we can evaluate the results scientifically.

Abbasian says: "In our country, sojuk therapy was introduced later than some complementary and traditional medicine methods, such as Chinese acupuncture or Indian Ayurveda. Its entry into the country was not standard and systematic. Many people who have studied sojukotherapy abroad and are now working in this field are not doctors and are simply interested in this field and have taken courses. On the other hand, unlike some well-known methods such as acupuncture, there are no standard and official training courses in the Ministry of Health or universities of medical sciences that lead to the issuance of a valid certificate for Sojuktherapy. Of course, some doctors have also entered this field and some groups have formed associations and are trying to present this method to the society more regularly.

Naturally, people who have participated in certain training courses may have different educational conditions than those who have not seen any courses." This complementary medicine expert says that if we are going to use sojuk therapy, it is better to look at it as a complementary method and not as a substitute for standard treatment. People who talk about the treatment of diseases with any method, whether in modern medicine or in complementary methods, with certainty of "100% cure" or "definite cure", should be considered with more caution. We cannot say with certainty about any disease that we know all its types and suggest a definitive treatment for all patients.

Abbasian warns: "Regarding Sujok, there is still no complete understanding of the mechanism of effectiveness, the degree of effectiveness, and its possible side effects. For this reason, its formal and standard education has not been formed in the health system, and the community cannot be referred to standard centers or offices to receive these services. Therefore, if people intend to use this method, the most important thing is not to forget their standard treatment and be careful not to fall into the trap of people who abuse people's health to make money."

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