Mechanical exercise as a means of cure : being a description of The Zander Institute, London (7 Soho Square), its history, appliances, scope, and object / edited by the Medical Officer to the Institution.

Date:
1883
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Mechanical exercise as a means of cure : being a description of The Zander Institute, London (7 Soho Square), its history, appliances, scope, and object / edited by the Medical Officer to the Institution. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by UCL Library Services. The original may be consulted at UCL (University College London)

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    The local treatment consisted of belladonna, cMoroform, morphia, aconite, fomentations, turpentine, hot hip-baths, flannel bandages; and other remedies were tried, withotit producing any beneficial effect, or relieving the stiffiiess and inability to walk. The principal medicines given internally were arsenic, belladonna, and quinine. The arsenic relieved the burning sensation in the limb, and the quinine the periodic paroxysms of pain. After he had been under treat- ment for about six weeks, with the result above described, I advised him to try the treatment at the Zander Medico- Gymnastic Institute in Soho Square; and as the medical officer considered it a suitable case for the treatment, he undertook the case. Mr, S. is now (November 4) able to walk in comfort for upwards of an hour, and there is only a slight tenderness on pressure at the previously painful spots. He is also able to rest well at night, and he has quite regained his usual health and strength. The medical officer writes me:— ' The treatment consisted in rapidly percussing the affected parts every other day, and giving the hips and lumbar regions carefully regulated movements; this being done by machines of a very ingenious yet simple character. The apparatus employed consisted of, (a) a machine by which carefully graduated extension and flexion of the hips was made; (5) a machine by which the lumbar region was in like manner carefully rotated from side to side; (c) a machine by which very powerfvil friction and a kind of vibration or trembling was applied to the painful and adjacent parts. My reason for applying the above means was founded on observation. I had treated several cases before Mr. S. was sent by you, and had been very much struck by the results of the treatment. I had always thought that, for such ailments as lumbago, muscular rheumatism, and sciatica, as soon as the early acute symptoms had passed, no treatment would be so likely to be