User:Adela Opeyemi/sandbox

Introduction
African Traditional Massage: In Africa, "touching" is more natural than in Western countries : Intimate closeness, mother-to-skin, therapeutic touch, initiation or religious rituals… But they don't see touch/massage as a moment of relaxation and introspection. However, locally there are ancient and very specific massage techniques and even hot springs with thermal benefits. But because of word of mouth, because of the lack of ancient texts, because of the lack of massage schools, because of the benefits that are not scientifically verified, and unfortunately because of the negative image of Africa (poverty, disease, etc.), war). ..) African engineering struggles for international development; making these practices purely anecdotal on a global scale.

Massage: Massage is a touch and manipulation technique to relieve muscle pain and energize body healing and relaxation. Implementing massage therapy can have an overall positive effect on your well-being, especially when it comes to the nerves. The nervous system can be stimulated or soothed depending on the type of massage movement and can be a great addition to your Colorado lifestyle. Here are some undeniable benefits to implementing massage for your nervous system.

Massage stimulates touch, pressure and the skin's receptors, i.e. the underlying tissues. In addition, nerve receptors and reflex reactors are being stimulated, which increases blood circulation and cell renewal. Massage therapy can stimulate the nervous system into producing hormones that have tremendous benefits for the entire body, while reducing levels of unwanted or unbalanced chemicals that can have a negative effect on us.

Reflexology, also known as "zone therapy", is an alternative medicine that applying pressue to the feet annd hands using specific thumb, finger, and hand techniques without using oil or lotion. It is based on a pseudoscientific system of reflex zones and zones that are supposed to reflect imagges of the body on the feet and hands, on the premise that such work affects a physical changes inn the body.

Traumatic Brain Injury: Traumatic brain injury has been a major issue in African society, but most times left unattended to mostly due to lack of adequate medic-care or outright ignorance. Traumatic brain injury drastically changes the way how the brain works, it limits its general effectiveness. The brain is the seat of the coordinate of human activities/behavior, this includes biological/physiological and physical activities, so if there is a forceful blunt force to the head, it resultant effect is Traumatic Brain Injury. The severity of TBI can range from "mild" (meaning a brief change in mental state or consciousness) to "severe" (meaning unconsciousness or memory loss long after the injury). ). Mild traumatic brain injury (mild TBI) accounts for nearly 75% of all TBIs. Medical professionals may describe a concussion as a "mild" brain injury, because most symptoms of a concussion usually resolve within a few days or weeks, but all head injuries (mild, moderate, or severe) are both serious injuries and can have long-term consequences.

When a traumatic brain injury occurs and damage is done to any part of the brain, the function of that part of the brain controls becomes impeded, hence TBI can potentially affect cognitive function, sensory function, emotional function, and motor function.

Causes of Traumatic Brain Injury
So many factors could be responsible for the cause of traumatic brain injury, and they include


 * Birth Complications: Childbirth could be traumatic in Africa, basically due to lack or inadequate medical care, and sometimes ignorance, some pregnant women don’t go to hospitals for antennal but instead go to untrained Traditional Birth Attendants and in the process of delivery there might be a blunt trauma to the baby’s head which might result into Traumatic Birth Injury but this could also happen in modern hospitals, in the process of delivery, if the legs of the mother are not open wide enough, it could compress the head of the baby, therefore, resulting into traumatic brain injury at birth.


 * Also, some African cultural practices could result in Traumatic Brain Injury. The practices involve trying to shape the head of a newborn baby into the desired shape. Africans use a piece of clothes diffused in hot water to massage the head of a new baby, with the belief that the consistency of the practice will enable the baby to have the desired shape, this could result in traumatic brain injury in the baby at infancy.


 * Fall which is common in infancy among children can result in serious brain injury and this is common among children of working-class women                                    

Prevalence of traumatic brain injury in Nigeria.
A study by Donald & Michael (2021) showed that in southwestern Nigeria, road traffic accidents (RTA) and falls were the main causes of head injury, accounting for 73.4% and 73.4%, respectively, and 16.4% and motorcycles have multiple causes related to the leading cause of head injury rates in developing countries. In addition, in a study by Yusuf et al Ilorin in Nigeria, it was found that motorcyclists were 20 times more likely to die in RTA than those in cars. It also showed a higher mortality rate among motorcyclists who did not wear helmets. RTA as a major cause of head injury in Nigeria has been shown to be consistent with other global regional studies, with the highest prevalence in the very young age group and adolescents (15-24 years)11, 12, 13,14 with the other highest incidence in the elderly group. The incidence is higher in men than in women with a ratio between 2:1 and 2.8.1.15,16,17,18. for severe head injury, the sex ratio was more pronounced at 3.5.1

MASSAGE THERAPY AS TREATMENT FOR TRAUMATIC BRAIN INJURY
Massage therapy has for centuries been an important form of treatment for ailments ranging from mild to severe illness, in some cases alleviating the symptoms that accompany that condition. Massage works by stimulating and closing pain messages when used to treat pain. In this way, the intensity of pain perceived by the brain is reduced. Massage can have a direct effect on muscles by stimulating muscles that are not working due to illness or injury.

Traditional massage is unlike any other; It is a form of massage that includes the addition of other herbal substances to massage therapy. Massage therapy has been practiced by many tribes/races around the world, with many documents claiming that the Chinese, Indians, and Japanese have adopted massage therapy in various forms of their treatment. surname. Africans are not left out. Massage is a practice most common among the Ijaw ethnic group of Nigeria. Massage is deeply rooted in the culture in their tradition and they use it to great effect in the treatment of various ailments.

Therapy sessions have been used for treatments ranging from pain relief to antenatal clinics, antenatal clinics and postpartum clinics, newborn baths, dislocations, and uterine massage. However, it should be noted that massage therapy has a specific process and application, and there are forms of massage therapy that aim to improve neurological and cognitive function, as is the case with traumatic brain injury.

It is believed in Ijaw practices that massages could be adopted as an effective therapy for traumatic injury. They believe that the diagnosis of TBI is partly damage to some nerve in the body’s anatomy which affects, cognitive function and also motor function, they also diagnosed that TBI comes with some symptoms that therapy procedure can effectively manage, once the symptoms are managed, TBI can ultimately be managed. But the process to be adopted is determined by the type of ailment being treated (and the type of herbs that will be added)

However, some experts in massage therapy believe the therapy for brain injury is not to permanently cure brain injury but to manage the symptoms that come with brain injuries and the therapy that will be adopted will depend on how bad the situation is, which sometimes might be very severe.

Traditional massage goes beyond applying pressure on body parts, ljaw traditional massage involves the additional application of herbs, which will be applied and also drunk.

The application of additional herbs to be applied along with the massage is done systematically, in terms of volume and time, this goes a long way in determining the effectiveness.

Concussion is a major symptom that accompanies a head injury, and according to a massage therapist, the treatment used will vary by age. For infants, toddlers, and infants, for example, treatments consisting of individual steaming in hot water mixed with herbs and drinking other herbs will be done in time order. . For adults, this involves rigorous massaging the individual's head and spine with herbal products, which is also done in a timely manner to ensure effectiveness and, in this case, the individual That will also drink a herbal drink. It is believed that applying constant pressure on the nerves in the spinal region awakens dead or weak nerve cells in the body, thereby reducing the injury of TBI.

Convulsions are another system that accompanies TBI, and it usually involves the body being violently shaken and unable to move body parts, massaging the muscles and nerves is very important. important to control the situation, especially some important anatomical parts of the body.

To improve motor function, massage therapists believe that massaging the nerves connected to certain muscles in the body can help improve motor function and like other

The therapist believes that massage therapy doesn’t work in isolation, it comes with other forms of therapy which include a food diet and other forms of dietary supplements that are rich in vitamins that could help repair damaged parts of the body. This they believe will help revive some cells that could help in the cognitive function of the brain.

Massage Therapists have claimed some credit for the effectiveness of the therapy, especially in dealing with symptoms associated with TBI. There are cases where the motor functioning of clients has improved considerably well, and therapists have also shown that massages have been highly effective in managing symptoms that come with TBI like concussion and seizure. Also it is also used for treatment like Conception process (womb Massage ), Post natal care, Antenatal care and Prenatal care, Traditional baby Bath also know has Baby's first Birth in Nigeria.

However, it is difficult to establish the true effectiveness of the therapy because patients that were seen in the facility are also on some form of conventional treatment, massage therapy was an alternative treatment, therefore it cannot be established if it was the conventional treatment or the massage therapy that was responsible for any improvement in condition.

In the same vein the danger in massage therapy could be severe firstly the therapist cannot be able to determine the actual dosage of herb that could be effective or could be an overdose to a patient, this could be very lethal.

Secondly, the herbs did not undergo microscopic examination which could be very lethal.

Conclusion
Although the general effectiveness of traditional massage therapy has not been established in this study, it is recommended that experts in this field should ensure they follow best practices and follow ethical standards. However it is encourage that we take a break, from our daily routine and go for massage once a while, another to  get your body relaxed and fresh and to prompt overall wellbeing.

References