A preliminary paper upon the causes of lateral curvature of the spine : with the report of a case of lateral deformity due to occupation / by Newton M. Shaffer.

  • Shaffer, Newton M. (Newton Melman), 1846-1928.
Date:
1884
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A preliminary paper upon the causes of lateral curvature of the spine : with the report of a case of lateral deformity due to occupation / by Newton M. Shaffer. 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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    at the school-desk has been observed as awkward, or some- what out of normal; and these or similar causes have been accepted as the important etiological factors in true scolio- sis. My friend, Dr. W. J. Little, of London, has very re- cently stated his views upon this subject, and, as they may be accepted as representing a large class of readers and thinkers, it may be well to state them here. Dr. Little ' says, in his excellent and exhaustive treatise on “ The Medical and Surgical Aspects of In-knee (Genu Valgum^),” (page 18,) speaking of knock-knee: “In adolescents, it is probable that carrying heavy weights, fatigue, and long hours of work have their principal share in its production, favored in fast-growing lads by insufficient diet and con- sequent weakness of tissue.” Again,, page 99, he says: “ Nature or gravity works in the lower extremities exactly as in the spinal colum afflicted with scoliosis or twisting of the spine, which, we have already stated, is a strictly analo- gous distortion to in-knee, occurring in distinct forms —the atonic and rachitic.” ’ The case we have placed upon record would sustain these views, If the history so recorded were the history obtained m true scoliosis with rotation. The present is, however, a very exceptional case in our experience, but, so far as'it goes. It corroborates the views of Dr. Little, as above quoted, and no one will deny, I think, that the conditions named by him may produce lateral curvature. Instead of resu ting in true scoliosis, however, we have the condition bC's^ack^ My friend. Dr. Seguin, has also recently verbally de- cnbed to me a condition which may be called an office oy s back wherein the deformity resulted from carrying _ <o< other heavy ledgers, etc., and, while it would be London; Longmans, Green, & Co., 1882.