Lectures on the pathology and treatment of lateral and other forms of curvature of the spine.

  • Adams, William, 1820-1900.
Date:
1865
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Lectures on the pathology and treatment of lateral and other forms of curvature of the spine. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Harvey Cushing/John Hay Whitney Medical Library at Yale University, through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the Harvey Cushing/John Hay Whitney Medical Library at Yale University.

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    the same as in the first class—viz., local support to the spine, with constitutional treatment, and the reclining position as far as may be practicable. In the case of the elder child with the hump-back, I have employed a steel instrument, and maintained constantly a slight posterior pressure with great advantage. This child has been more than nine years under my observation, and most decidedly the spinal curvature has not increased in proportion to his growth, so that proportionably to his size, he is now- very much less deformed than when I first saw him, previous to which the increase had been rapid. The leather spinal supports which I employ at this period of life may be rendered more efficient by the addi- tion of steel crutches attached to the leather; a form of apparatus which I employ also in cases of caries of the spine with angular curvature in children, and is made for me by Mr. Blaise, of the firm Whicker and Blaise, late Savigny, in St. James' Street. 3rd. In Youth.—Posterior curvature of the spine more frequently occurs in boys than in girls, and presents itself in the form commonly described as round shoulders. Some boys have naturally a thick, clumsy, awkward figure, with high shoulders, and soon acquire a habit of stooping, which, if not checked before eighteen years of age, settles into a permanent cyphosis or exaggerated posterior cur- vature in the dorsal region. This may sometimes be hereditary, but is more frequently only an acquired bad habit, and often co-exists with an indolent and sluggish disposition. Treatment.—These cases are best treated by the drill master and active gymnastic exercises, which are decidedly preferable to any mechanical support; but in girls a well- contrived backboard with elastic in the central portion,