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
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: 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. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    ing process, and the development and care of the breathing muscles, are even now by no means generally nor sufficiently recognized. With regard to (4). The muscles of the back are used in stretching, holding oneself erect and straight, as well as in side movements of the spine (and therefore of the whole trunk), and also co-operate in the inhalations and exhala- tions. Their quality and activity have accordingly, from several points of view, of great influence on the whole pro- cess of life. For upon them depends that upright bearing of the trunk, which is so needful for the free performance of the functions of the breast and abdominal organs, which are sure to suffer from a long-continued bent or sunken car- riage of the trunk; they are of especial use, too, in youth to maintain the spine and the whole body in perfect shape. The insufficient activity and development of the muscles of the back constitute a by no means negligible factor in most deformities of the spine. But the strength and activity of the muscles of the back are, from other standpoints, of great and general importance, namely: (a) because the spine, from its position in the central line of the body, forms the main support and stay for the other move- ments of the body, whose intensity is more or less depend- ent upon the tension of the muscles of the back; (&) because most probably the energetic use of the muscles of the back has a direct influence on the circulation of the blood in con- nection with the spinal marrow, nourishing it and strength- ening its normal, and preventing abnormal, reflex actions, — diseased tensions and dispositions of the nervous system, — and enabling us more easily to overcome outside attacks with vigorous reactive powers. When the spinal mar- row is full of freshness and vigor it constitutes one of the best preventives against general weakness and excitability, against that many-headed enemy, hypochondria, hysteria,