Novak Djokovic’s Wimbleton winning streak came to an end this past weekend as he went down to defeat to a young Carlos Alcaraz. One the world’s greatest men’s tennis players, Djokovic is also an anti-vaxxer whose credulity is almost as impressive as his Grand Slam wins. This year he was observed wearing a patch on his chest that he has called “the biggest secret of his career”. The product is called a TaoPatch which is said (by the manufacturer) to “apply the principles of acupuncture to low-level laser therapy using nanotechnology”. Let’s take a closer look to see if his undeniable tennis success could really be supported by this product.
Djokovic is no stranger to criticism for his wellness trends and believes in pseudoscience. He claims that people can change the composition of food and water with the power of belief. His opposition to vaccination led him to miss tournaments like the Australian Open and U.S. Open last year. He follows a gluten-free diet, and he apparently determined that he was intolerant by holding a piece of bread and undergoing strength tests. He is also a supporter of the so-called “Medical Medium” who we’ve covered before. Now he’s endorsing a new product.
What is a TaoPatch?
Its manufacturer calls it a “human upgrade device” that “improves posture, movement and performance without chemistry by acting on the body’s balance”. When you dig into what it actually is, there is little on the website that actually says what it is. On the page called “Research and Experimentation” there are links to some papers (many in Italian) with one that was in English and published. The paper is entitled, “Performance, balance and posture variations with Occlusal Splint and Taopatch® devices: a retrospettive [sic] cross-over study”. In that study, the Taopatch is described as a “naontechnological device based on carbon nanotubules and quantum dots.” This was an uncontrolled study that concluded that wearing the patch improved grip strength and squat jump. This is not surprising, and reminds me of the old “Power Balance” hologram/energy bracelet fad from over a decade ago, where athletes, both elite and everyday, were convinced that a piece of plastic improved their “energy fields”.
I also found a paper published entitled, Taopatch® combined with home-based training protocol to prevent sedentary lifestyle and biochemical changes in MS patients during COVID-19 pandemic. This is apparently a trial with a control group however the research is so poorly described I couldn’t determine if there was any randomization or blinding.
While it looks like a sticker, the manufacturer calls it a “nanotechnological medical device” that features carbon nanotubules and “quantum dots”. It “applies the principles of acupuncture” to “low level laser therapy”. It works by emitting “biophotons”. It “allows the innate intelligence of your body to restore its natural alignment.” “The heat from your body is converted into light of specific therapeutic frequencies, which are similar to the frequencies of photons your nervous system uses to communicate with the rest of your body.” It’s like they chose as many science-y buzzwords as possible and put them all in the marketing pitch.
This isn’t just marketed to credulous athletes. The website has specific pages dedicated to Multiple Sclerosis (“The Drug-Free Way to Reclaim Your Mobility, Freedom, and Independence” and Parkinson’s disease (“Say Goodbye to Tremors, Rigidity and Slowness of Movement!”) A neurologist has reviewed some of the claims about the TaoPatch. He notes the anecdotal claims, but concludes it is “unproven in MS”.
TaoPatch prices start in the hundreds of dollars and rise into the thousands.
Conclusion: The hologram bracelet of its generation
The TaoPatch is just the latest iteration of the seemingly endless stream of products that take advantage of consumer credulity, the belief in superstition, and a lack of skepticism. If this product could genuinely improve Parkinson’s or Multiple Sclerosis, it would be endorsed in medical guidelines and recommended by experts. If it genuinely enhanced sports performance, it would be prohibited in competition. Unfortunately, the results claimed by the manufacturer are highly implausible, and in the absence of any convincing evidence, the TaoPatch remain unproven.