190

i was on the bus when a rather old and frail woman in front started coughing. there was an indian-looking man beside her and he turned to stroke/pat her back, and a chinese woman behind her who i deduce to be related to her did the same. i thought it was rather strange for the indian to do this since he appeared to be a stranger, until i realised he was probably part of the group.

anyway what i want to say is, does patting/stroking the back of someone who is coughing actually benefit the person? because i can't think of any instance when it has worked for me other than to cause more irritation.

i suppose the only way it would work was if they really smacked her hard in the back to assist in expelling whatever she was trying to cough out, but judging by how frail she looked, this smack would probably kill her so it kinda defeats the purpose.

in the end, god was smiling upon her and she stopped coughing (by herself or due to their assistance, i don't know) before any of them had the same idea as me and decided to start smacking her.