[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Leyton].

  • Leyton (London, England). Municipal Borough.
Date:
[1934?]
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0)

Credit: [Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Leyton]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    104/214 (page 102)
    102 Primary Examinations. During the year 80 children were referred from the Infant Welfare Clinics to the Council's Orthopaedic Surgeon. Last year it was noted in the Annual Report that there had been an increase each year in the number of children referred for advice and treatment from the Infant Welfare Centres since 1929, when the service was first available. The numbers increased from 31 in 1929 to 91 in 1932. This year there is a fall in cases referred from 91 to 80. One hopes that—as the residt of the individual teaching in the homes by the Health Visitors and at the Clinics by the Medical Officers and Health Visitors—the mothers are beginning to realise the importance of straight limbs. Only with the mothers' co-operation is it possible to ensure that deformities do not become serious. A mother who has been told to watch a bowed leg, and later reassured regarding it, may be quite uncon scious of a definite knock knee in the same child 6-12 months later. The arguments that the father has bow legs or the mother has knock knee are still advanced as explanations of the children's deformities, or even as reasons for disregarding them. The orthopaedic defects found were :— Webbed digits 2 Scoliosis 1 Talipes 3 Digitus flexus 2 Bowed tibiae 41 Genu valgum 30 Genu varum 1 Bowed femora 1 Pes piano valgus 52 Be-examinations. In addition to the 80 new cases mentioned above, 165 children under five years of age attended for re-examina tion by the Orthopaedic Surgeon. Treatment. One hundred and twenty-nine children made 448 attendances at Knotts Green Special School for special treat ment by the Council's Masseuse (Miss Findlay). Provision of Surgical Appliances.—One hundred and five children were supplied with surgical appliances on the recommenda¬