The treatment of scoliosis / by Robert W. Lovett.

  • Lovett, Robert W. (Robert Williamson), 1859-1924.
Date:
1913
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: The treatment of scoliosis / by Robert W. Lovett. 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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    and easily displaced to the side and twisted, and the back is in view of the surgeon during the ap- plication, enabling him to see just what correc- tion is being accomplished. But jackets applied by this method are clumsy, as it is difficult to fit the pelvis accurately, especially if the thighs are flexed, access to the chest and shoulders is not easy, and the front of the jacket is concealed from the surgeon’s view. Application Lying on the Side. A method has been devised by Rich19 in which the patient lies on the side and is suspended by a sling passing around the convexity of the lateral curve, other slings hold the head and pelvis, and rotation is controlled by an oblique pull. The jacket is ap- plied as a figure eight bandage, with the upper turn embracing the root of the neck, the lower turn the pelvis, and the crossing coming over the convexity of the spinal curve. Advantages and Disadvantages of the Side Lying Position. The chief advantages of this position consist in the fact that the patient is suspended, and thus all parts are easily access- ible. The figure of eight bandage fulfils ad- mirably the mechanical requirements, and the body weight is utilized to straighten the spinal curves. The method is not applicable, except to children. Application of Jackets Lying on the Back. Forcible jackets were applied by Z. B. Adams and R. T. Taylor with the patient lying on the back, but the method was not extensively adopted, although the access to the patient was easy and the results were good. It did not dif- fer essentially from the prone lying position. In Taylor’s method the spine was hyper- extended, and in Adams’s the patient lay flat. Much interest has been manifested in a