Surgeon sceptical of traditional healing

WELLINGTON – A medical expert is sceptical about the natural remedies used in the treatment of All Black Waisake Naholo’s fractured leg bone.

While some have hailed the Fijian player’s speedy recovery as a remarkable gift from God, Wellington orthopaedic surgeon Nigel Willis was somewhat more cautious.

Willis had been an orthopaedic specialist for 15 years.

Naholo’s quick recuperation may have been “completely coincidental”, he said.

“You don’t want to be disparaging of a cultural belief system,” he said, “but the reality is, it probably would have settled down anyway.

“If these techniques were really valid then they would become mainstream because they would work all the time.

“Natural remedies have never been subjected to any sort of critical analysis, in terms of scientific evaluation and to work out whether they do make a difference.”