The Edmondson Blog

One of this year's entry's into the Ig Nobel awards was about a young man who walked into the accident and emergency department of University Hospital in Jacksonville, Tennessee, complaining of hiccups that had lasted three days. Francis Fesmire, who treated him, had little idea he was about to make medical history:

"Digital rectal massage was then attempted using a slow circumferential motion," he wrote in his seminal case report, published in the Annals of Internal Medicine. "The frequency of hiccups immediately began to slow, with a termination of all hiccups within 30 seconds."

I'll stick with the hiccups, thanks!