Ancient Therapies still practiced

Aswan’s black sands and warm sun are timeless healing
therapies. The climato-therapy practiced along, the Nile
and the red sea, have long yielded results that modern
medicines have yet to replicate. In studies conducted by Egypt’s national center for research over the past decades, patients with rheumatism and other joint inflammations have reported a marked
improvement in their conditions with many reporting a total
cure. The low doses of naturally radioactive elements found
in the sand along with the region’s concentrated ultraviolet
rays and warm dry climate are reputed to have numerous
health benefits. The recommended therapy includes daily two-hour black sand baths for a period of three to four weeks. Nubians just
south of Aswan use a unique therapy in which the patient’s
body is immersed in sand during the hottest part of the day.
This therapy carried out under the supervision of sheikhs
who specialize in the process, treats arthritis and activities
blood circulation, with the patient’s relatives and neighbors
gathering to sing folk songs that have been written for such
occasions. This raises the patient’s spirits and prevents him
or her from getting bored after a set period of time; the
patient is then unburied, wrapped in heavy blankets to protect
from the breezes,taken quickly to an enclosed space
and offered a hot drink of Masisa and halfa el-barr plants.
The Nubian sheikhs also use a poultice of Nile silt to
treat migraines, toothaches and torn muscles. This type of
therapy has much in common with pelotherapy, used in
international sanitariums, where mud is mixed with mineral
water and applied as a part of a heat treatment for joint
inflammation. Treatments are found at major hotels such as the
Movenpick or locally especially at Gharb Suheil Village