I. Operative treatment of hip-disease. II. Rest and fixation in joint-disease / by De Forest Willard.

  • Willard, De Forest, 1846-1910.
Date:
1890
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: I. Operative treatment of hip-disease. II. Rest and fixation in joint-disease / by De Forest Willard. 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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    By DE FOREST WILLARD, M.D., Mr. H. 0. Thomas, of Liverpool, in his latest fulmination,1 takes occasion to object to my methods of producing fixation in joint dis- ease. While I as thoroughly believe in the necessity of rest as does Mr. Thomas, or any other member of the profession (since it is not only correct in theory, but in practice also it has yielded me the best results), yet I cannot agree with him that it is only to be obtained by the use of the Thomas splint. I believe that rest to a joint can be obtained in a variety of ways, and any plan that will produce this result will give good cures. The means may differ according to the judgment of the surgeon. I am satisfied that excellent results follow the use of the Thomas splint, but I do not think they are caused by this particular form of splint as much as by the long-continued ap- plication of the principle of rest for month after month. If I under- stand his method correctly, his custom is never to allow the removal of the splint during the entire course of the disease. In my opinion it is largely this persistence, combined with the fact that his cases are all in private practice, that secures the excellent results that he reports. I confess that such absolute rest is not obtained in the practice of the majority of American surgeons, since with nearly all of them a certain amount of motion is undoubtedly produced in their efforts to obtain cleanliness. English mothers must be far different from those in our country, if they permit their children to continue for such a length of time without securing for them that condition of cleanliness which is so important to health. Mr. Thomas asserts, on page 5 of his article above mentioned, ' An Argument with the Censor of 8t. Luke's Hospital, New York. Pamphlet. Liverpool, 1889.