A simple clapping exercise could reveal if something is seriously wrong with your brain, according to a viral video shared online. A woman called Char shared a clip on TikTok demonstrating the move alongside her boyfriend Lee, who has been living with a brain tumour for three years.
She first demonstrates the clapping move correctly, quickly flipping one hand and clapping with each side on the other palm. Lee then attempts the move but struggles to keep a regular pace, sometimes clapping slowly. Char said: “If you look a bit like this doing it…then you may want to get checked.”
Lee then explains that he has a brain tumour called meningioma, a slow growing type that forms in the layers surrounding the brain and spinal cord.
Char adds: “We saw a video about the hand clap from a doctor. We already knew [Lee] had a brain tumour.
“That is not the only way to find out if you have a brain tumour, you might just have really bad coordination. But if you can’t move your hands like that, then it is best to get checked.”
Char also explains that she is trying to raise money through TikTok to pay for Lee’s private surgery.
She adds: “Lee has been waiting three years to have this brain tumour removed, and his symptoms are progressively getting worse.
“To have a brain tumour removed costs around £28,000 to go private.”
Most meningiomas are not cancerous, and are considered benign.
Around 34,000 people are diagnosed with one each year. Meningiomas account for around a quarter of all primary brain and spinal cord tumours in adults.