The fixative power of traction in the treatment of hip disease / by A.B. Judson.

  • Judson, Adoniram Brown, 1837-1916.
Date:
1883
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The fixative power of traction in the treatment of hip disease / by A.B. Judson. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    tient’s unconsciously taking advantage of the motion of the unaffected hip.1 It is not unreasonable, however, to suppose that cen- tral ostitis occurring so near the joint as to produce all the symptoms of incipient hip disease, may, in favorable conditions and with treatment commenced sufficiently early, be resolved with perfect motion in the joint. Such cases have been observed. Patients have even been observed to recover from the third stage, with consider- able useful motion in the joint. In every case, there- fore, whether the disease be recent or in the third stage, the surgeon should try to secure recovery with motion, and it is important to observe that the treatment herein described not only prevents anchylosis, if it can be pre- vented, by subduing inflammation, but also, if anchylosis be inevitable, provides for the best position of the limb. The fixation which this apparatus secures is of a pecu- liar quality. It may be compared to the condition found in some forms of paralysis, when a joint is said to resem- ble a leaden pipe, which may be bent with suitable force, but retains with sufficient firmness whatever position it may be placed in. This “fractional degree of fixation” is attended with sufficient arrest of motion to allay in- flammation, encourage the reparative process, and afford relief from pain; and yet it is not so inflexible as to pre- vent the gradual correction of the deformity in obedi- ence to the unconscious efforts of the patient to place 1 Mr. Hilton describes one of his patients, who recovered with a firmly anchy- losed hip-joint, as follows: “ She is an excellent dancer, frequently dancing for a whole evening, and but few persons know, when she sits down, that the right knee- joint is bent at right angles with the thigh and body, and tucked under the chair to meet the inconvenience of her fixed hip-joint.” John Hilton : Rest and Pain, p. 373. London, 1863. American Edition, p. 221, 1879.