'Bone smashing' trend takes over TikTok. What is it?

TikTok users are justifying this baffling 'bone smashing' by citing Wolff’s Law. (Image: X)

“Bone smashing”, a bizarre trend has taken over the internet yet again. The strange trend that started on TikTok has people hitting their faces with blunt objects like a hammer, bottle or massagers in the pursuit of beauty and improving their facial features.

According to Forbes, videos with the phrase “bone smashing tutorial” have already garnered over 267.7 million views on TikTok. However, there is no evidence that hitting your face with blunt objects will do any good.

TikTok users and participants of the trend are justifying this baffling practice by citing Wolff’s Law. Formulated by German anatomist and surgeon Julius Wolff, it is based on the observation that you and your bones are constantly undergoing remodelling with old or damaged bones continuously being resorbed and replaced by new ones.

Now, why are people hitting themselves? It is because, according to the law, applying mechanical force or physical stress to your bones can actually increase the rate that such remodelling occurs and, in the process, result in stronger, thicker bones. And the lack of such stress or force can lead to thinner or weaker bones.

Now, without any further evidence of the same, people are using blunt objects to cause fractures in their faces in the hope of “generating” new bones so that they can achieve a more “chiselled” look. The belief behind it that when bones heal from a blunt trauma, they grow stronger.

However, as per Forbes, the mechanical force and physical stress that TikTok users are deliberately applying to their faces is quite different than what Wolff talked about. A blow from a blunt object can actually cause harm including fractures and deformity.

Moreover, the face is made up of soft tissues, connective tissues and eyeballs, apart from bones – which could get easily damaged by hitting the face for beautification. Pounding your face can also lead to bleeding and lesions that would put you at high risk of an infection.