On the advantage and applicability of the prone position, in diseases and injuries of the spine, malformations of the chest, hips, &c. : Read at the Westminster Medical Society, May 21, 1836 / by Charles Verral.

  • Verral, Charles, -1843.
Date:
1836
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Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: On the advantage and applicability of the prone position, in diseases and injuries of the spine, malformations of the chest, hips, &c. : Read at the Westminster Medical Society, May 21, 1836 / by Charles Verral. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by Royal College of Physicians, London. The original may be consulted at Royal College of Physicians, London.

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    who may be disposed to try or to recom- mend it. In conclusion, I beg leave to repeat my perfect conviction that the prone position will enable us to cure many cases of disease which would, withoutit.be incapable of being perfectly cured ; and that even where it cannot altogether cure, it will afford such a chance of improvement, and such a certainty of relief, that it ought to be very generally adopted. To restore health to the diseased body, and beauty to the distorted form, are the proudest boasts of our art; and second only to these is its power of alleviating the pangs of sickness, and of smoothing the passage to the grave. I ADDITIONAL OBSERVATIONS. January, 1837. More than six months have passed away since I read the foregoing paper before the Westminster Medical Society, and during that period my time and attention have been especially devoted to the treatment of dis- eases and distortions of the spine, chest, hips, &c. Additional experience has autho- rized me to speak with great additional con- fidence of the remedial methods which I have been led to pursue, and of the infinite advantage of the prone position over every other, not only in those particular cases, but in many other maladies incidental to the human frame. It is not my intention here to accumulate cases; nor can I be ex- pected to give a detail of those whose cure cannot have been consummated in so short a space of time, however evident the benefit may be which has already been obtained from the position and its concomitant treat- ment, lire results, however, of this addi- tional experience, as far as they can already have been ascertained, I feel called upon to state; and if doubts should suggest them- selves to the minds of any of my readers, I shall always be ready to remove them by giving an account of the cases from which those results have been deduced. In the first place, I have many additional proofs of the ease with which my patients adapt themselves to the prone position, and of the comfort, and even the pleasure, they derive from it in consequence of the facilities it affords for useful and agreeable employment. I have at present under my care more than one young lady, not only able to read, write, sew, knit, &c., but even to practise on the piano-forte while lying prone upon the couch. Another result of which I have greatly to boast is, that the treatment that I have adopted in connection with the prone posi- tion is proved to be as triumphantly suc- cessful in the lateral as it is in the posterior curvature of the spine. I have had under my care one young lady, with a lateral cur- vature by which the right shoulder and hip were raised at least an inch higher than the left, who has become perfectly well at the end of only four months. There are others who have already derived much benefit from the position, although they have been employing it not more than five or six weeks ; but I may particularly refer to the case of Triphina Moulton, of No. 2, Lower Gillingham-street, Vauxhall Road, because it exemplifies seve- ral of the points to which I am desirous of directing the reader’s attention. This child’s was the worst case of lateral curvature, combined with distortion of the ribs and irregular muscular action, that I have ever seen. In attempting to walk, the right hip was drawn up at least four inches higher than the other. In five months the pro- truded ribs have been nearly restored to their proper form, the spine is become com- paratively almost straight, and the irregular muscular action is so considerably diminish- ed, that in walking, the hip is not elevated more than about one inch. She is now, while lying on the couch, making use of various exercises for the purpose of still further correcting the action of the muscles; though I doubt if any irregular action will continue after the spine shall, as I trust it soon will, be restored to its natural form. I have become convinced, from these and several other cases which have fallen under my care, that in the prone position the spine and chest may be'gradually, but certainly, restored to their proper form; while the violent but fashionable gymnastic exercises, although they may and do correct the irre- gular muscular action, and give vigour to the frame, not unfrequently fail to obtain those most important results, while, by preter- naturally enlarging the muscles which they call into action, they frequently give to the delicate female form the appearance of the ploughman or the porter. I have under my charge two young ladies who have for ten or twelve months been employing thecalisthenic exercises, with advantage probably to their general health, and certainly with a great increase of muscular power, but as certainly with an aggravation, instead of a diminution, of the bony deformities. The constant strain upon the spinal column, which the prone position so naturally and gently affords, together with the opportunity it gives for powerful friction, and for the use of such exercisos as may give a proper play to the