Skeptics Stack Exchange
Skeptics Stack Exchange

Questions tagged [medical-science]

Use this tag for questions about the science of medicine and its practices. Use [medications] for questions about the actual cures that people take, and use [alternative-medicine] for claims about cures and practices which are claimed to be alternative to official medical science

Medical science is the science and art of healing. It encompasses a variety of health care practices evolved to maintain and restore health by the prevention and treatment of illness.

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Is popping your knuckles bad for you?

I pop my knuckles fairly frequently, and I have been told on several occasions that doing so is bad for your joints. Is this true? Have there been any medical studies on this?
Peter Olson
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Does continuous drinking of lemon juice have any negative effect on bones?

I came across a blog post from a beauty blog titled Beware: Lemons Can Harm You In Ways You Didn't Know. [Archived Page] One of the points mentioned was The continuous use of lemon juice can actually melt your bones in the long run. So, beware of…
user56730
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Is breakfast the most important meal of the day?

This question is not about nutrition. I am not asking whether the kinds of foods that people typically have during breakfast (esp. cereals) are healthier than other foods. The claim is often made that the food is somehow digested “better” (more…
Timwi
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Can “heart strings break after a deep emotional trauma”?

I’ve come across this on Twitter this morning: https://twitter.com/sammytellem/status/422216032195854336 Now, I really wonder whether this could be true. I tried to do some research and while I’ve come across sites claiming you can die from a…
idmean
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Does the G-Spot exist?

There's a lot of talk in magazines about a woman's G-Spot. But does it exist? Or is it a trick to keep men searching?
Carra
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Is duct tape an effective treatment for warts?

HealthTipsSource writes in Natural Ways to Put an End to Moles, Warts, Blackheads, Skin Tags and Age Spots: This is a scientifically proven method of warts removal. In one study, 61 patients with warts received either duct tape treatment or…
Christian
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Will a small cut heal faster when "aired" periodically, or should it always be bandaged?

I've been told to take the Band-Aid off a small cut every once in a while in order for it to heal faster. Is this good advice, or should I try to keep it covered as much as possible?
Daniel
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Can swimming after having eaten make you drown?

Some people, including my mom, believe that it's very dangerous to bathe after having eaten without waiting approximately 1 hour (the amount of time depends on what you have eaten). I have two questions: Is this a real danger? Are the chances of…
smzs
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Why should we try to reduce swelling after injury?

The very common advice for immediate treatment of an injury is R.I.C.E. — rest, ice, compression and elevation — to reduce swelling. But why should we try to reduce the natural swelling response? When I pose the question on Google, many results…
Martin F
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Can 3 minutes of "high intensity training" per week have just as much of a positive health effect as several hours of traditional fitness?

If this is true I have been doing it wrong the whole time. According to a recent BBC Article, a genetic trait in some people can allow them to do "high intensity training" (basically: stressing your body to the limit on an exercise, in this example,…
Resorath
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Does putting an ice pack on an injury reduce swelling?

It has been taught for a long time (and appears to be mainstream "knowledge", such as documented here in Wikipedia) that applying an ice pack to an injury reduces the severity of swelling, and it also seems to be taught (by implication, at least)…
Highly Irregular
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Can using an air conditioner while sleeping be harmful?

When I used to live in Japan, the summers were really too much for me, especially when going to bed. The strange thing is that all the (Japanese) people would strongly advise me against leaving the air conditioner running while I sleep because this…
Andy
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Once a burn has cooled (with water or not), does further submersion in cool water help?

The standard treatment for burns seems to be to put the burn in cool water for 10 to 20 minutes. It seems sensible to me that some burns can gain a benefit from this action when the skin/flesh is still extremely hot and is essentially still cooking…
Highly Irregular
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Do those hologram bracelets do anything at all?

Bracelets such as Energy Force and Power Balance bracelets claim to improve balance, agility, strength, etc. The demo at the health expo seemed pretty convincing but how can it possibly work?
Matthew
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Fat Burning Zone -- Is it real?

Does low-intensity, long-duration exercise really "burn fat" at rates higher than highly aerobic exercise? Is the academic case for this view actually strong? It seems like a lot of accepted knowledge in the exercise industry has a weak scientific…
jgoldberg
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