Elbow bump

The elbow bump is an informal greeting where two people touch elbows. Interest in this greeting was renewed during the avian flu scare of 2006, the 2009 swine flu pandemic, the Ebola outbreak of 2014, and the COVID-19 pandemic when health officials supported its use as an alternative to hand-shaking to reduce the spread of germs. During the latter pandemic, authorities advised that even an elbow bump was too risky, and suggested greeting from a distance.

History

The elbow bump as a greeting is sometimes assumed to be derived from the more well known fist bump, beginning in the 1980s. Shaquille O'Neal demonstrated the derivative nature of the elbow bump in relation to the fist bump in 2004, when he dismissed Kobe Bryant's greeting with a half-hearted elbow bump.

Popularity due to hygienic qualities

2006 avian flu outbreak

A recent advocate of the elbow bump is the World Health Organization. In 2006, due to fears of a possible avian flu pandemic, the WHO proposed using the elbow bump as a means of "keeping other people's cooties at arms length." Michael Bell has been a principal advocate for using the elbow bump, noting that it can also help constrain the spread of diseases such as Ebola, by modeling social behavior that limits physical contact.

2009 swine flu pandemic

The elbow bump got renewed interest when the 2009 swine flu pandemic in Mexico began growing into a worldwide pandemic. By 2009, the elbow bump had grown so large in popularity that people in Mexico had taken it upon themselves to utilize the elbow bump to reduce the spread of disease. As in 2006, the elbow bump was supported by a number of health officials, such as Sanjay Gupta, CNN's chief medical correspondent.