On atheroma and some of its consequences, with their treatment : an address delivered before the Cardiff Medical Society on February 21, 1895 / by T. Lauder Brunton.

  • Brunton, Thomas Lauder, Sir, 1844-1916.
Date:
[1895]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: On atheroma and some of its consequences, with their treatment : an address delivered before the Cardiff Medical Society on February 21, 1895 / by T. Lauder Brunton. 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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    we may expect it to become better nourished and better able for the work. But simple massage will not increase the thoracic movements, and these, as I have mentioned, are important ad- juncts. Therefore it is that, if the patient be strong enough, carefully graduated movements may be added to massage or replace it entirely. For these movements will increase the How of blood through the muscles, and have all the other useful actions I have mentioned as resulting from massage. Massage in the treatment of heart disease is, I believe, first mentioned by Harvey, but its employment was first reduced to a system in Sweden by Ling and others. The Swedish cure attracted but little attention in this country or on the Continent until the system of treatment by baths and movements was taken up by the Brothers Schott and Nauheim, and the great success which has attended the use of this method seems likely to lead to its general adoption and recognition. The method consists chiefly in the use of graduated movements, which are made at first against very slight resistance, the resistance being increased as the patient is able to bear it, until at last the patient may be obliged to use a considerable amount of muscular effort. Under this treatment dilated hearts become rapidly smaller, at least up to a certain point, as is shown by the accompanying figure (Fig. 18), which I owe to the kindness of Dr. Schott. But it is evident Diagram of the cardiac dulness before and after a bath. A similar effect is produced by gymnastic exercises. The thin line shows the graduated dulness before and the thick one after, a. Nipple, b. Nipple, c. Ensi- form cartilage. that the alternate expansion and contraction of the arteries may be very slight, and their self-massage, as we may term it, very imperfect if the arterial tension be high, as we often find in gouty patients, even although the heart may bo strong. Can anything be done to remedy this condition permanently ? I believe it can. I have only begun to use the treatment, and I Fig. 18. O
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