Medical testimony in regard to the proper mechanical treatment of joint diseases.

  • Davis, Henry G. (Henry Gassett), 1807-1896.
Date:
[1862?]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Medical testimony in regard to the proper mechanical treatment of joint diseases. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the National Library of Medicine (U.S.), through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the National Library of Medicine (U.S.)

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    ULCERATION OF THE KNEE-JOINT. This disease (generally termed white swelling) has been more discouraging to the profession than when located in the hip-joint, Amputation was formerly considered the only resource, to save the life of the patient; it was therefore a great advance when it was dis- covered that not only the life, but the limb, could be preserved by exsection of the diseased portion of the joint. How much more valu- able, then, must be a mode of treatment which not only preserves the life and limb, but perfectly restores the joint—and this without suffering during the process of curel This restoration has been ac- complished by the plan practiced by me, in a case where the carti- lages were destroyed, leaving the articulating surfaces to grate upon each other upon every movement of the joint, and where the system was brought to that point where amputation or exsection becomes necessary. LATERAL CURVATURE OF THE SPINE. This deformity arises from several distinct causes, therefore the treatment must be adapted to each variety. Those cases dependent upon muscular causes are remediable by influences acting upon the muscles of the spine. This class I have been accustomed, for the last twenty-five years, to treat by exercising and developing those muscles that were not sufficiently vigorous to sustain the spine in its normal position. This mode of treatment has been recently brought forward as something uew, under the popular title of Swedish Movement Cure. That it is not entitled to any consideration as a novelty, is evident from the fact that it has beeu in use in this conn- try for twenty-five years by myself; and how much longer by others, I am unable to say. My apparatus, as applied to lateral curvature, embraces the principle of elastic extension. HENRY G. DAVIS, M.D, 19 Park Avenue, New York City.