Page 76 - Proceedings of The Fifth Meeting of Indigenous Medicine in the Mekong Basin

70

6.3 Mrs. Prae Pirakhun
Hometown: Nakorn Sawan Province
Ethnic group represented: Thai
Years of practice: 34 years
Area of expertise: Post-partum care and soil-burying treatment for
the treatment of paresis or paralysis
Previous award or recognition received: Registered and
licensed as practitioner of the art of healing in the branch of Thai
traditional medicine (B.E.2554)
Educational background and work experience:-
Knowledge transfer: She learned soil-burying treatment from her
great grandmother, grandmother, and aunt. Her daughter and
granddaughter are her successors. She also passed on this
traditional wisdom to over 50 interested persons.
Treatment process: There are five steps for the
treatment of paresis and paralysis, namely:-
1. Soil burying: If the patient cannot walk, put the soil
on the cloth and Siamese cassia leaves on top, then lay
the patient‘s affected arms or legs on the leaves and
cover again with the leaves and soil. After 15-20 minutes,
remove the arm/leg from the coverage. If the patient can
walk, dig a hole large and deep enough for patient’s
legs, line the hole with Siamese cassia leaves, and
cover the legs with the leaves followed by the soil.
Leave for 15-20 minutes then remove the legs from the
hole. After resting for a while, practice walking for 3-5
minutes.
2. Thai massage: Start massaging from the normal part
of body to the paralyzed part, applying the herbal oil as
well.
3. Hot herbal compress: Hot herbal compress is
usually applied after massage, focusing on the joints,
palm and sole of the affected side of the body. Thai
herbal compress ball consisting of fresh chopped herbs is applied in this process.
4. Herbal steam bath: Many kinds of fresh herbs are boiled in a pot, placed under the bed
in the tent for herbal steam treatment. The patient will lie on the bed and stay in the tent for
15-20 minutes.
5. Herbal medicine: Two types of her own herbal
remedies are used; i.e., herbal pills and laxative
solution.
Related rite / ritual: Before the treatment, it is a ritual
for a patient to show respect to the god of medicine
by offering five objects and 99 Thai baht.
Professional attitude: She is very proud of her
profession and the knowledge inherited from her
ancestors enabling her to be able to help others.
Showcase summary: She demonstrated procedures to treat paresis & paralysis; i.e., soil
burying, Thai massage or Nuad Thai, and hot herbal compress. Lastly, she introduced the
herbal medicines she used for her treatment.