Bone to Bone

Ireland’s indigenous medicine and healing rituals are visible all around us in Ireland's landscape, folklore, and festivals.  The “ Cure”, otherwise known as “The Gift” or “The Charm”, can be split into three areas: plant medicine, physical manipulation and charms, prayers and rituals. 

The local bone-setter played a vital role in Ireland right up until the late 20th Century. The ancient art of bone setting involved manipulating the bones to realign fractures, but due to its non-practice, much of the knowledge in relation to healing fractures is lost. It is known that Ash was the preferred wood to use as a splint. The branch used had to be around 4 inches in diameter, the inside hallowed out and the branch sliced in two so that the sapwood of the branch lay against the fractured bone.