Gwollu Traditional Bone Setting Centre

The Gwollu Traditional Bone Setting Centre is an indigenous healing practice site in Gwollu, the capital of Sissala West District in Ghana's Upper West Region. It is run by the Najiriwia Clan, also rendered Nagiriwie, with the craft practised by the Tituo family and passed down through generations under the family elder. The centre is also referred to as the Titobala Traditional Bone-setting Centre, and it is described as recognised by the Ministry of Health.

Practitioners treat fractures and dislocations using indigenous methods that combine herbal medicine, including herbs mixed with shea butter, with spiritual healing. One reported custom involves plucking a fowl's tail feathers and leaving them at the centre, with the patient believed healed once the feathers regrow. The centre is reported to have existed for over 200 years; its origin story tells of Hawie mending a broken pestle, after which the gift was extended to healing broken human bones.

For visitors, the site's interest lies in its living practice rather than in buildings or monuments. It is an indigenous traditional-medicine site, not a museum, and the Sissala West District Assembly lists it among the district's tourist sites alongside the Gwollu slave defence wall and the tomb of the late President Dr Hilla Limann. It has also been promoted as a cultural and heritage tourism asset, including during a Tourism Minister's regional tour.

The centre receives patients from across Ghana and neighbouring countries, especially Burkina Faso, with roughly 35 people treated monthly according to the then head of facility. It won Attraction Site of the Year at the 7th Upper West Regional Tourism Awards in 2005 and again in 2006.

Practical planning is limited by what is documented. No published visitor entrance fee was found; the centre is described as a benevolent institution with no formal charges for treatment or healing, and historically patients gave appreciation gifts such as a calabash of millet, one thousand cowries and tobacco leaves. No verified coordinates exist for the centre itself, and Gwollu town coordinates are for the town, not a visitor entrance. Opening hours, guided-visit arrangements and booking procedures are not documented. Some recent reports locate the centre in Bullu rather than Gwollu town, so visitors should confirm the current location and access arrangements locally before travelling.