Description of an apparatus intended to facilitate the treatment of fractures of the lower extremity / [Thomas Michael Greenhow].

  • Greenhow, T. M. (Thomas Michael), 1791-1881.
Date:
1833
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Description of an apparatus intended to facilitate the treatment of fractures of the lower extremity / [Thomas Michael Greenhow]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    maintaining the complete and unvarying apposi¬ tion of the fractured surfaces and the necessary extension of the limb, is, I believe, generally ad¬ mitted ; and if these two circumstances could be easily and completely effected, much would be done to ensure in every case of fractured femur a favourable result. It is in the invariable accom- 4 plishment of these indications that I entertain very confident hopes, that the apparatus, which I am about to describe, will be found more advanta¬ geous in its application than any that has hereto¬ fore been proposed. Nor are these the only benefits to be derived from it; it will be found to effect the degree of extension and counter-extension re¬ quired for the reduction of the bone, with greater ease and certainty than can otherwise be attained ; it will admit of those movements, on the part of the patient, which may be necessary for his com¬ fort, or for effecting the natural evacuations, with¬ out hazard of deranging the fractured bone ; and will altogether be found to contribute very largely to his ease and well-doing during the irksome confine¬ ment which must unavoidably attend his recovery. Without entering into any detail of symptoms, causes, ordiagnosis, ordescribing the various modes of treatment which have been recommended by other Surgeons, all of which are, no doubt, suffi¬ ciently known, I shall proceed to a simple descrip¬ tion of the construction and application of the apparatus, which it is my object to propose as their