Heal bruises with a comb? Why don't they cause a blood clot?

Factual Questions
1

2 questions…

Since I was a kid I heard if you rub it with a comb it goes away faster. True or false? If true, what’s the science behind that?

And if a bruise is where blood cells busted out of a group of capillaries, then why does that not cause a dangerous blood clot too?

2

  1. Doesn’t sound like an effective thing to do. If anything rubbing should lead to more bleeding. WAG - bias, due to selection of the cases where it goes away quicker. If its so minor that you can rub it with a comb, without excruciating pain, then it will go away quicker than a more severe bruise.

  2. The clot is outside the circulatory system… The clot can’t get into a vein to cause the danger.

3

I have never heard of combing a bruise but we used to try it with a hickey. Never worked. LOL

4

I heard the same with toothpaste. Doesn’t work either!

5

The way I heard it when I was a kid is that you put a metal comb in the freezer for a few minutes then take it out and place it on the bruise.

6

My wife (who was raised in China) believes that rubbing a bruise makes it go away faster. She tried that on me once and I was not happy.

Wikihow claims that it “activates the lymphatic process”, but that sounds kind of doubtful to me.

7

I’ve used to a tube of chapstick (as in the side of it, rolled flat between palm and neck) to roll out some pretty severe hickeys - I always assumed it helped spread the blood out more so it was less concentrated to one spot and therefore less noticeable. But mayhap not?