It is never an easy task for doctors to examine ticklish patients as it usually leads to giggling and squirming. It not only makes the sufferer uncomfortable, but also affects the treatment. But now, British researchers have found a novel way to overcome this problem.

They have developed a technique called ‘hand sandwich’, which can help doctors examine a ticklish patient without unwanted giggling, as per a report featured in The New England Journal of Medicine.

Under this ‘hand sandwich’ technique, a doctor places a hand’s fingertips on the sensitive area of a ticklish patient’s skin. After that, the person places his hand’s fingertips on the doctor’s fingertips. To complete the process, the doctor places his second hand on the patient's hand. It allows the doctor’s top hand to examine the movement, as per the researchers.

It is an effective technique as it allows a patient to predict the doctor’s hand movement when pressure is applied to the skin, said the researchers. It makes them feel that they initiating, they added. Both the doctor and the patient feel that they are effectively controlling their hands’ movements, said Christopher Dobson, a doctor at Royal Preston Hospital in Preston and lead researcher of the findings.

“In other words, the ‘hand sandwich’ technique may help fool the patient's brain into thinking the pressure is coming from his or her own hand, thus reducing the ticklish sensation”, Dobson added.

Touch is very important diagnostic tool for a doctor while examining a patient, but it becomes very difficult when the patient is ticklish. It is still not known that why some people are ticklish while others aren’t.