Do traditional bone-setters offer solution to broken bones?
Sep 26, 2011
MODERN doctor calls them fake, the patients say they are genuine. Others say they are better than modern doctors. They are the traditional bone setters, who are believed to heal human bones after a fracture.
By Christopher Bendana
MODERN doctor calls them fake, the patients say they are genuine. Others say they are better than modern doctors. They are the traditional bone setters, who are believed to heal human bones after a fracture.
They are borrowing some bit of modern techniques like usage of bandages. They claim their healing powers are hereditary.
David Nuwahereza, 40, a traditional bone-setter in Kakyekye, Kakiika, Mbarara, says he started treating people with bone and wound problems when he was 15.
In Mbarara, he is a Butamaguza, one of the sons of a famous bone setter from Kabwohe.
Nuwahereza says most of his patients are motor vehicle accident victims.
He heats the herbs in small pots, positions the pot on the clotted part of the wound to ease blood movement as he applies some ghee. Administering of the treatment is done in a day’s interval. Nuwahereza supports the broken bone with splinters and applies bandages. He has rooms where patients are admitted. In this area, he is called ‘doctor’.
Innocent Agaba, a Kampala resident in his 20s, says he was hit by a gate and broke his bones between the knee and ankle. He first went to Rubaga Hospital, where they put metals in his leg. When they suggested an amputation, he refused and they discharged him.
Dejected, he went home in Rushere and was directed to a traditional bone setter. He has been at the clinic since May.
“Before, I could not straighten my leg. Now I can move it,†he explains.
Douglas Ngobi, a resident of Kibuli, Kampala, says he was hit by a boda boda. It caused him a fracture between the ankle and the thigh.
He was treated for four months at Mulago Hospital. Metals were put in his thigh and he was discharged in 2009.
“The wound was discharging fluid. I was in pain. I could not walk,†he explains.
In 2009, Ngobi changed to Nsambya Hospital, where he was told his bones had an infection. He underwent another operation. The pain persisted.
On his mother’s recommendation, he decided to visit a traditional bone setter.
“Now after one month, there are no metals, there are wooden splinters and I feel some relief,†he points out.
Geoffrey Madewo, a surgeon at the Department of Orthopedic Surgery, Makerere University Medical School, says: “There is a natural healing process. Whether you go to the hospital or not, fractures heal.â€
He calls on people to go to hospitals because while fractures and wounds can heal themselves, defects like dislocation of the bones will need experts like an orthopaedics.
“The healing can take place, but the dislocation will remain,†Madewo says.
“You need to take an X-ray to see the position of the bone,†he explains.
Madewo blames traditional bone-setters for misleading patients.
He concedes that there are patients who leave hospitals and go to the traditional bone-setters. However, Madewo adds that many return in worse condition.
MODERN doctor calls them fake, the patients say they are genuine. Others say they are better than modern doctors. They are the traditional bone setters, who are believed to heal human bones after a fracture.
They are borrowing some bit of modern techniques like usage of bandages. They claim their healing powers are hereditary.
David Nuwahereza, 40, a traditional bone-setter in Kakyekye, Kakiika, Mbarara, says he started treating people with bone and wound problems when he was 15.
In Mbarara, he is a Butamaguza, one of the sons of a famous bone setter from Kabwohe.
Nuwahereza says most of his patients are motor vehicle accident victims.
He heats the herbs in small pots, positions the pot on the clotted part of the wound to ease blood movement as he applies some ghee. Administering of the treatment is done in a day’s interval. Nuwahereza supports the broken bone with splinters and applies bandages. He has rooms where patients are admitted. In this area, he is called ‘doctor’.
Innocent Agaba, a Kampala resident in his 20s, says he was hit by a gate and broke his bones between the knee and ankle. He first went to Rubaga Hospital, where they put metals in his leg. When they suggested an amputation, he refused and they discharged him.
Dejected, he went home in Rushere and was directed to a traditional bone setter. He has been at the clinic since May.
“Before, I could not straighten my leg. Now I can move it,†he explains.
Douglas Ngobi, a resident of Kibuli, Kampala, says he was hit by a boda boda. It caused him a fracture between the ankle and the thigh.
He was treated for four months at Mulago Hospital. Metals were put in his thigh and he was discharged in 2009.
“The wound was discharging fluid. I was in pain. I could not walk,†he explains.
In 2009, Ngobi changed to Nsambya Hospital, where he was told his bones had an infection. He underwent another operation. The pain persisted.
On his mother’s recommendation, he decided to visit a traditional bone setter.
“Now after one month, there are no metals, there are wooden splinters and I feel some relief,†he points out.
Geoffrey Madewo, a surgeon at the Department of Orthopedic Surgery, Makerere University Medical School, says: “There is a natural healing process. Whether you go to the hospital or not, fractures heal.â€
He calls on people to go to hospitals because while fractures and wounds can heal themselves, defects like dislocation of the bones will need experts like an orthopaedics.
“The healing can take place, but the dislocation will remain,†Madewo says.
“You need to take an X-ray to see the position of the bone,†he explains.
Madewo blames traditional bone-setters for misleading patients.
He concedes that there are patients who leave hospitals and go to the traditional bone-setters. However, Madewo adds that many return in worse condition.