Observations on the treatment of lateral curvature of the spine : pointing out the advantages to be gained by placing the body in a position to produce lateral flexion of the vertebral column, combined with the after application of firm mechanical support / by Edward F. Lonsdale.

  • Lonsdale, Edward F. (Edward Francis), -1857.
Date:
1852
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Observations on the treatment of lateral curvature of the spine : pointing out the advantages to be gained by placing the body in a position to produce lateral flexion of the vertebral column, combined with the after application of firm mechanical support / by Edward F. Lonsdale. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    some schools, where they are what is called “ kept close to their studies/’ or, in other words, are made to continue in the same posture for hours together, and this, one, as I have already stated, which chiefly employs the muscles of the arm of the right side, while those on the left are compa- ratively passive, causing a dead weight to be thrown to this side, and to drag and press constantly against the ribs. There is an occupation in which many girls are employed in the trade of book- binding, namely, what is called book-folding; to this I have in many cases traced the commence- ment of the curvature; the cause is the same as that I have mentioned above, viz., the employment of the right arm more than the left, which this business necessarily requires. Many girls have an awkward way of standing, bearing almost all their weight on the left leg, a position which throws the right shoulder up and causes the left to drop. I am not sure however whether this position is not often, though not always, secondary, and is prac- tised after the curvature has commenced, but unob- served by the parents or by the girl herself, rather than a primary cause of the evil; though no doubt the constant position of resting the weight on one leg more than on the other, will throw the spine out of the straight line, when it becomes a habit