Description of an apparatus intended to facilitate the treatment of fractures of the lower extremity / by T.M. Greenhow.

  • Greenhow T. M. (Thomas Michael), 1791-1881.
Date:
1833
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Description of an apparatus intended to facilitate the treatment of fractures of the lower extremity / by T.M. Greenhow. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh. The original may be consulted at the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh.

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    c is vacant, except for about three inches below the flexure on which the knee rests. A screw plays through the cross bar at the bottom, by means of which is moved a foot-piece which slides along the parallel bars with a steady motion. To the foot- piece is affixed, by means of straps, which regulate accurately its height, &c., a shoe made of soft ma- terials, and provided with straps and buckles for fix- ing it firmly to the ancle and instep. It will appear obvious that in fractures of the leg, whether simple or compound, when the knee is made a fixed point and the foot properly fixed in the shoe, extension to any degree can be made with ease by means of the screw which acts upon the foot-piece. When turned in the proper degree, the screw is prevented from further motion by means of nuts which are brought close to the cross- bar through which it plays. Though perhaps all this may seem complicated in description, it is per- fectly simple in its operation. The fractured bone is thus effectually reduced and secured from dis- placement ; but it will be found to be fixed and supported at the extremities only, while the cen- tral part is in an insulated state between the two parallel bars which stand at a considerable distance on either side. The nature of the accident must now determine our further proceedings. If it be a simple frac- ture, side splints may be applied to the leg, and fixed by straps, tapes, or in such manner as incli-