Hip-injuries, including hip-joint disease, and fractures of the femoral neck, splint for.

  • Willard, De Forest, 1846-1910.
Date:
[1880?]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Hip-injuries, including hip-joint disease, and fractures of the femoral neck, splint for. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The University of Glasgow Library. The original may be consulted at The University of Glasgow Library.

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    HIP-INJURIES, INCLUDINd HIP-JOINT DISEASE, AND FRACTURES OF THE FEMORAL NECK, SPLINT FOR. I DESIRE, in connection with the exhibition of the accompanying splint, not only to call attention to its adaptability to ununited or badly-united intracapsular fractures of the femur, but also to recom- mend it as an exceedingly useful support in the disabilities follow- ing sprains, lacerations, twists, and dislocations (congenital or traumatic) of the coxo-femoral articulation. Of its use in hip- joint disease, I would say here that it is of the greatest advantage in non-acute cases in the first stage, and in the majority of patients during the other stages. I have for several years been in the constant habit of fixing this joint in fractures of the upper portion of the thigh, and in all hip- injuries and diseases, by permanent dressings of binders' board, starch, felt, plaster of Paris, silicate of soda, etc., especially in the case of children ; but the great inconvenience—in fact, the impossi- bility—of sitting while encased in one of these dressings, if prop- erly applied,—i.e., so as to embrace the thorax,—did not force itself upon my mind until I was obliged personally to resort to the use of such a dressing for the disability following a laceration of the ligamentum teres caused by a violent twist of the leg. One has but to try the experiment to find that a position other than standing or lying is absolutely incompatible with comfort or the power to pursue any ordinary avocation. I had often wished to make a joint in my hip-disease dressings, especially in adults who were obliged to attend to business, but, although familiar with the use of leather and felt for spinal dressings, it had not occurred to me to apply them to the hip until I chanced to see a leather apparatus for the relief of a paralytic trouble.