Crawling around like a bear may be the cure to some grizzly health problems, practitioners claim.
While the bear crawl has been a long-prescribed exercise in traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), the movement is seeing a comeback, particularly among middle-aged men and women.
However, some doctors are hesitant to promote the traditional "cure-all" claims that come with it.
The movement involves crawling bent over on one's hands while keeping the backside up in the air.
The bear crawl dates back to the Eastern Han Dynasty (25-220) as one of the "Five-Animal Exercises" created by physician Hua Tuo, explained Tong Peojian, an orthopedist at Zhejiang Provincial Hospital of TCM.
Bear-crawling men and women can be seen in many city parks in China, all swearing up and down the exercise has healed everything from bad backs to heart disease and hemorrhoids.
But doctors remain skeptical, especially when it comes to cardiovascular health.
"The exercise lacks scientific proof of its effects," said Pan Hao, an orthopedist at Hangzhou Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine in Zhejiang Province.
