Skip to main content
Massage Championship World Tour

🇳🇬 Nigeria · Traditional

West African Infant Massage西アフリカの乳児マッサージ

In many West African peoples, newborns are washed with warm water, stroked with oil and their limbs stretched as part of child care.

Traditional healing system

This name is recorded with basic database information. An in-depth article will follow.

Fact sheet

Origin
🇳🇬 Nigeria · 🇬🇭 Ghana · 🇸🇳 Senegal
Era
Traditional
Classification
Traditional healing system
Techniques
Oil / Stretch
Practitioner body parts
Palm / Thumb
Medium
Oil
Clothing
Clothed
Setting
Floor

Cultural meaning

Methods differ among Yoruba, Akan, Wolof and others. Stretching the limbs with warm water and oil is explained as 'building a strong body'; modern paediatrics cautions against forceful manipulation of infants.

Related competition categories

Competition scores assess a performance under that event’s rules—not the value of a technique or culture. Consult the official rules for eligibility and judging criteria.

No direct category connection is currently recorded here. Consult the official rules for eligibility.

World Massage Encyclopedia

Explore official competition records →Meet the judges →View seminar information →

Sources & references

About this article

Edited from published sources. Listing sources does not mean community or specialist review is complete, or that benefits are established. We welcome practitioners’ perspectives on names, descriptions, additions and corrections.

Share a perspective or correction
Edited by
Massage Championship World Tour
Last updated
Editorial status
Regional or lineage variations

Technique-specific visuals require content, source and usage review before publication. Generated illustrations must be labelled as illustrative, never presented as documentary photographs of people, interviews or practice.

Related techniques