Ancient Egyptians Used Leg Crutches to Help Rehabilitate Stroke Patients, New Discovery Shows

Sarcophagi found in a cache dating to the Egyptian Late Period
(around the fifth century B.C.) are displayed after their discovery by
a mission headed by Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities, at the
Bubastian cemetery at the Saqqara necropolis, Cairo, Egypt, May 30,
2022. (AFP Photo)
Sarcophagi found in a cache dating to the Egyptian Late Period (around the fifth century B.C.) are displayed after their discovery by a mission headed by Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities, at the Bubastian cemetery at the Saqqara necropolis, Cairo, Egypt, May 30, 2022. (AFP Photo)
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Ancient Egyptians Used Leg Crutches to Help Rehabilitate Stroke Patients, New Discovery Shows

Sarcophagi found in a cache dating to the Egyptian Late Period
(around the fifth century B.C.) are displayed after their discovery by
a mission headed by Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities, at the
Bubastian cemetery at the Saqqara necropolis, Cairo, Egypt, May 30,
2022. (AFP Photo)
Sarcophagi found in a cache dating to the Egyptian Late Period (around the fifth century B.C.) are displayed after their discovery by a mission headed by Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities, at the Bubastian cemetery at the Saqqara necropolis, Cairo, Egypt, May 30, 2022. (AFP Photo)

Doctors usually recommend several measures for stroke survivors, including exercising that require a walker or a cane, in addition to a leg crutch that maintains the body’s balance and stability during the walking retraining.

A team including researchers from Spain’s Universidad de Alcalá (UAH), New Jersey City University, and the American University of Cairo (AUH), discovered that ancient Egyptians had applied similar measures to rehabilitate stroke patients. The discovery involved an ancient Egyptian mummy from the 25th Dynasty, unearthed by the Spanish-Egyptian mission working at the Dra Abu el-Naga necropolis located on the West Bank of the Nile, in Luxor (southern Egypt).

The mummy labeled “Ind-6833” is one of 17 embalmed mummies at the tomb chapel of Hery (TT 12) of the early Eighteenth Dynasty (c. 1550-1292 BC).

After X-rays and examinations, archeologists found the mummy marks the oldest leg injury in a stroke patient ever, and unveils unfamiliar measures taken at the time to cope with the injury that caused hemiplegia in the left part of the body.

In the study published in the latest issue of the journal World Neurosurgery, the researchers said their findings show that the measures adopted to treat patients after a stroke are similar to the recommendations that physicians currently recommend in such cases. The archeologists found that canes and crutches were used by the ancient Egyptians to support the affected leg.

According to the team, the body belonged to a woman, between 25 and 40 years of age. The type of mummification was of a high level, with excerebration and evisceration carefully performed. She suffered a stroke late in life and lived with the results for several years.

“Ancient Egyptians were among the first people to apply medical interventions. The new discovery is not surprising, as ancient Egyptians were the first to provide a detailed brain description, according to the Edwin Smith Papyrus,” Bassem al-Shamaa, historian and Egyptologist, said on the new discovery.

“When you examine a man with a wide wound reaching the skull bones and exposing the brain, you could sense the wound with your hand and feel that the surface of the brain in the bottom of the wound is like a slag on the surface of fused copper inside a melting pot. You could also notice pulses that resemble the pulses you feel when you place your hand on the head of a newborn whose skull bones are still not fused,” he explained.

“These findings deny what some claimed about a regression Ancient Egypt witnessed under the rule of the 25th Dynasty during the Nubian occupation. The new discovery should motivate researchers to restudy that period, whose excavations have always been subject to religious and ideological interpretations. The new discovery suggests that period had probably witnessed medical procedures and interventions,” he told Asharq Al-Awsat”.



Drought Has Dried Major Amazon River Tributary to Lowest Level in over 122 Years

 A part of the Negro River is dry at the port in Manaus, Amazonas state, Brazil, Friday, Oct. 4, 2024, amid severe drought. (AP)
A part of the Negro River is dry at the port in Manaus, Amazonas state, Brazil, Friday, Oct. 4, 2024, amid severe drought. (AP)
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Drought Has Dried Major Amazon River Tributary to Lowest Level in over 122 Years

 A part of the Negro River is dry at the port in Manaus, Amazonas state, Brazil, Friday, Oct. 4, 2024, amid severe drought. (AP)
A part of the Negro River is dry at the port in Manaus, Amazonas state, Brazil, Friday, Oct. 4, 2024, amid severe drought. (AP)

One of the Amazon River's main tributaries has dropped to its lowest level ever recorded, Brazil's geological service said Friday, reflecting a severe drought that has devastated the Amazon rainforest and other parts of the country.

The level of the Negro River at the port of Manaus was at 12.66 meters on Friday, as compared with a normal level of about 21 meters. It is the lowest since measurements started 122 years ago.

The previous record low level was recorded last year, but toward the end of October.

The Negro River's water level might drop even more in coming weeks based on forecasts for low rainfall in upstream regions, according to the geological service's predictions.

Andre Martinelli, the agency's hydrology manager in Manaus, was quoted as saying the river was expected to continue receding until the end of the month.

Water levels in Brazil's Amazon always rise and fall with its rainy and dry seasons, but the dry portion of this year has been much worse than usual.

All of the major rivers in the Amazon basin are at critical levels, including the Madeira River, the Amazon River's longest tributary.

The Negro River drains about 10% of the Amazon basin and is the world's sixth-largest by water volume. Manaus, the biggest city in the rainforest, is where the Negro joins the Amazon River.

For locals, the drought has made basic daily activities impossible. Gracita Barbosa, 28, works as a cashier on a floating shop on the Negro River.

She's out of work because boats that once stopped there can no longer navigate the river due to the low water levels.

Barbosa can no longer bathe in the river and now has to travel longer distances to collect drinking water.