The treatment of hip-joint disease with the straight splint / by J. Cooper Forster.

  • Forster, John Cooper, 1823-1886.
Date:
1851
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The treatment of hip-joint disease with the straight splint / by J. Cooper Forster. 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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    getting rest. I will not be tedious by giving a long account of the daily treatment, -which consisted for fourteen days in the constant application of leeches and administration of Dovei s powder, at the end of which time the straight splint was applied, and continued for six weeks. He was then enabled to get about on crutches; both legs are now exactly the same length; he has no pain about the hip, and an extensive amount of motion in the joint. As a proof of the comfort this patient derived from the straight splint, I may mention that one evening I removed it, and on the next day he particularly wished it re-applied, as his leg was going up and hurt him much at night. The greatest uneasiness these patients com- plain of is the stiffness of the knee. This lad is now going about with a stick, and gaining strength rapidly. I will not enter into a lengthened account of the usual modes of treating hip-joint disease in its two first stages; when a patient applies for advice, the remark one generally hears, is “ Oh, keep the patient lying in bed or on a sofa, at all events in the recumbent posture,” the position of the limb for after-use never being thought of; freeing the patient from pain is the only thing attempted : the time present is all that seems to be regarded. Now the objects I have especially in view, by the plan of treatment with the straight splint, are as follow's:— 1st. To relieve pain by obtaining the most perfect rest. 2nd. To prevent abscess forming, or if matter has formed, to determine the point at which it shall come to the surface. 3rd. The greatest advantage which I hold out, and the one to which I more particularly wish to draw the attention of the profession, is the future usefulness of the member. Rest is of course the first thing to be sought for in an inflamed joint, and the patient will take care to obtain it by some means or other, and in no way is it more effectually obtained than by fixing the body and leg as one piece, and thereby most entirely preventing motion in the great seat of it between the body and extremities—viz. the hip-joint.