Editing Backscratcher

{{Short description|Tool for relieving itch on back}}
[[File:Backscratcher02.jpg|thumb|250px|A common wooden backscratcher]]
[[File:Backscratchers.jpg|thumb|250px|Distinct styles of backscratchers in action, employing different itch-relieving techniques.]]
A '''backscratcher''', sometimes known as a '''scratch-back''', is a [[tool]] used for relieving an [[itch]] in an area that cannot easily be reached just by one's own hands, typically the [[human back|back]]. Although the backscratcher was an early human invention, [[Primate|primates]] have been observed using similar tools. <ref name=":0">{{Cite web |date=2010-08-22 |title=Chimps invent, share back-scratching tool |url=https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna38807346 |access-date=2025-05-16 |website=NBC News |language=en}}</ref>

== Composition and variation ==
[[File:Mid 00767672 001.jpg|thumb|An ornate metal backscratcher, created using [[Bidriware|bidri]] during the Mughul Dynasty (Production date: 1604-1625)<ref name=":1">https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/W_1895-0608-96</ref>]]
Backscratchers are generally long, slender, rod-shaped tools used to scratch one's back, with a knob on one end for holding and a [[rake (tool)|rake]]-like device, sometimes in the form of a human [[hand]], on the other end to perform the scratching. Many others are shaped like horse hooves or claws, or are telescoping to reach further down the back. Most modern backscratchers are typically made of [[plastic]], [[bamboo]], or [[metal]]. Examples throughout history can be found made of [[wood]], [[whalebone]], [[tortoiseshell material|tortoiseshell]], [[keratin|horn]], [[cane (grass)|cane]], [[ivory]], [[baleen]], and in some cases, [[narwhal]] tusks, due to the status afforded by relieving itches with a supposed unicorn horn (an example of [[conspicuous consumption]]).

Backscratchers vary in length between {{convert|12|and|24|in|cm}}. They are a common household tool. 

== History ==
Backscratchers are an example of [[Multiple discovery|simultaneous invention]](or multiple discovery), where separate cultures have invented the same device independent of each other. The [[Inuit]] carved backscratchers from whale teeth.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Scratching stick {{!}} National Museum of the American Indian |url=https://americanindian.si.edu/collections-search/object/NMAI_120583 |access-date=2025-05-13 |website=americanindian.si.edu}}</ref> In ancient China, Chinese farmers occasionally used backscratchers as a tool to check livestock for fleas and ticks.<ref>{{Cite book |title=Inside Peking University |last=Pattberg |first=Thorsten |date=May 2012 |publisher=LoD Press |isbn=978-0984209163 |page=11}}</ref> In recent history backscratchers were employed as a type of rake to keep the huge "heads" of powdered hair, worn by the upper-class in the 18th and 19th centuries, in order.<ref name="Chisholm">{{EB1911|inline=1|wstitle=Backscratcher|volume=3|page=135}}</ref>
[[File:Mid DSC 0027.jpg|thumb|A makara on the hilt of Mughul Dynasty backscratcher <ref name=":1" />]]
In the past, backscratchers were often highly decorated, and hung from the waist as accessories, with the more elaborate examples being silver-mounted, or in rare instances, capped by an ivory carved hand with rings on its fingers. The scratching hand was sometimes replaced by a rake or a [[bird]]'s [[Claw|talon]]. Generally, the hand could represent either a left or right hand, but the [[China|Chinese]] variety usually bore a right hand.<ref name="Chisholm" /> In the example above, from [[Bidar]], India in the 16th century, an ornate backscratcher has been made using a technique called [[Bidriware|bidri]]. Artisans used a zinc-copper alloy and inlaid it with silver. This example depicts a [[makara]] (a sea-monster in [[Hindus|Hindu]] myth) on its hilt.

Although not specifically used for only back scratching, young [[Chiricahua]] men in training and women going through a puberty ritual traditionally had to use a ceremonial wooden scratcher made from a fruit-bearing tree instead of scratching with their fingernails or hands. Young men who did not use the scratcher for scratching were reported to develop skin that was too soft.<ref>Opler, Morris E.; & Hoijer, Harry.  (1940). The raid and war-path language of the Chiricahua Apache.  ''American Anthropologist'', ''42'' (4), 617-634.</ref>

== Primate Use ==
Backscratchers have also been observed in use by primates. In 2010, scientists studying chimpanzee behavior in Uganda discovered members of the Sonso chimpanzee community had learned to use rudimentary backscratchers. 

Chimpanzees in the Sonso community were routinely encountering traps made for bush pigs, leaving one third with permanent disabilities. First observed in a chimpanzee named Tinka, who had lost the use of his hands as a result of these snares, the community adapted to their disabilities. Using a woody vine (a [[liana]]) pulled tight by one foot, these chimpanzees were seen scratching hard to reach places on their backs.<ref name=":0" />

== References ==
{{reflist}}

== External links ==
{{Commons category|Backscratcher}}
* "The Scratch-Back", at the end of [http://www.thebookofdays.com/months/aug/19.htm August 19] in ''[[Chambers Book of Days|The Book of Days]]'' by [[Robert Chambers (journalist)|Robert Chambers]].

[[Category:Chinese inventions]]
[[Category:Domestic implements]]
[[Category:Hand tools]]
[[Category:Traditional medicine]]


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