Willingness to Patronize Traditional Bone Setters Among Patients Attending General Out-Patient Department of Federal Teaching Hospital Abakaliki, Nigeria

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The practice of traditional bone setting has been of old and it is found in almost all communities of the world. For instance, an approximate 10-40% of patients with fractures and dislocations globally are managed by unorthodox practitioners. Also, there is evidence that bone setters were in practice in England in the 16th and 17th centuries. Incidentally as it is stillobtainable in Africa today, the methods of that practice was handed over by oral tradition from father to son and in most cases continued within the same family. In-fact, one of the founding fathers of orthopaedics in the United Kingdom was the son of a traditional bone setter.

Asexpected, the practice of traditional medicine has been in Africa long before the introduction of orthodox medicine. Its vastness necessitated the emergence of several specialized areas including traditional bone setting, traditional birth attendant and herbal healing. In Nigeria, it has been ascertained that traditional bone setters enjoy more trust and patronage than the other groups of traditional care givers. The popularity of traditional bone setters in Africa is enhanced by the claim by its practitioners that they have supernatural influences. The result is that in Nigeria, majority of the people rank the bone setters far ahead of orthopedic surgeons in the treatment of musculoskeletal injuries. For example, in Eastern Nigeria, it was reported that 85% of patients who presented with femoral fractures in an orthopaedic hospital visited the traditional bone setters first before presenting at the hospital. Perhaps spurred by this high level of societal recognition, the bone setters have ventured into other areas like treatment of congenital anomalies and management of patients with bone infections and tumors.