Medical indoor gymnastics, or, A system of hygienic exercises for home use to be practised anywhere without apparatus or assistance by young and old of either sex, for the preservation of health and general activity / by D. G. M. Schreber ; revised and supplemented by Rudolf Graefe ; translated from the 26th German edition by Herbert A. Day.

  • Schreber, Daniel Gottlieb Moritz, 1808-1861.
Date:
1899
    In life we often pass by or underestimate what is sim- ple, natural, and near at hand, preferring to believe that our welfare is to be found in something far away. This is often the case in our methods of obtaining health. Providence has endowed our organism with the germs of countless pow- ers and capabilities, whose natural development, and use we should always be endeavouring to promote by our actions. If we develop them fully we shall then be able to make the best use of them ; but if we fail in the first, our health, our happiness, our powers and mental capabilities, will be undermined by the loss we shall sustain. The endeavor to harmonize the powers that lie within our organism, both with each other and with regard to outside circumstances, by careful and thoughtful use, and with as little aid as may be derived from heterogeneous, so-called medicinal substances, in a word, that we are looking to the positive, and simple, and natural for help, — this is the im- portant advance, the triumph, of the healing art of our times. She has thrown aside the rubbish which past centuries, in their insufficient knowledge of nature, and crude empiricism, had heapwl confusedly about her. For even those capabilities for movement which lie in our bodies, and only need our will to bring them into use, can by their right development and usage both protect our Constitution from manifold evils, and give important aid towards allaying those disorders which may have already made their appearance. The health-bringing results of this method^ which is always ready at hand for everyone to make trial of, need only a clearer knowledge of the How
    and Where to carry it out, for it to become of permanent benefit to our race. The means of attaining this should be the business of the physician, and is the object of this work. For in bringing forward this method we offer no specific or secret opera- tions, no artificially constructed system, but are following honestly the paths of nature, which can restore the invalid to health by the same method and means by which the healthy body is developed and preserved. The movements indicated are absolutely natural, as they are grounded on the mechanism of the human body, and sugggested by the conformation of its joints. For this reason we recommend tins method, both for the normal development and mainte- nance of health, and for healing special maladies. And it is the cheapest and most practicable of any, for our own bodies are the only instruments used. The importance of an all-round, carefully planned system of exercises, which shall be from every point of view safe, always practicable, and suited to all circumstances, must be generally recognised, although its full value will per- haps be only realised by future generations. It is the most natural method for bringing the constantly rising tide of cul- ture in each rank of society into harmonious cooperation with the physical laws which govern our human organism. It completes and perfects the whole development of the body, preserves it from countless defects and disorders, while laying the necessary foundation for the development of the mind. Our exercises comprehend all the muscles of the body, and are arranged in a system of simple gymnastics of action, which from their origin are called the German sys- tem, to distinguish them from the Swedish, which consists principally in movements of resistance, which can only be carried out with the help of skilled gymnasts or complicated apparatus. I must apologise for the somewhat outspoken
    manner of my explanations in various places. It was caused by the purely practical nature of this work, in which regard for the most absolute clearness to those who are quite inex- perienced in these questions must be before everything else. If it be found of use to them, it will best fulfil the sincere wish of The Author.
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    The Contents. PAGE Preface to the First Edition v I. The Value of Medical Gymnastics in General ... 1 Their Close Connection with Mental Culture ... 3 Therapeutic Gymnastics. Physiological Importance of Muscular Activity 4 Hygienic Gymnastics 11 II. The Value of Medical Home-Gymnastics in Particular 18 HI. General Rules for the Practice of Medical Home- Gymnastics '. 25 IV. The Separate Exercises of Medical Home-Gymnastics, with Special Directions for Carrying Them Out, 34 V. A Collection of Prescriptions to Serve as Examples for Special Treatments 71 1. For dispersing congestions of the blood and chronic pains and irritations from the head and chest 73 2. For increasing the breathing powers 74 3. For overcoming sluggishness of the abdominal functions . 75 4. For directly promoting evacuations of the bowels ... 77 5. Prescriptions for overcoming ksemorrhoidal disorders and defective menstruation 7tf 6. For preventing the morbid and weakening frequency of seminal emissions 79 7. For -t lengthening treatment in casesof disposition to rupture and of rupture, especially in young persons, and ingui- nal rupture (hernia inguinalis) 80 8. For cases of incipient muscular paralysis 82 (a) of the arms 83