The management of lateral curvature of the spine : stooping, and the development of the chest in phthisis / by E. Noble Smith.

  • Smith, E. Noble.
Date:
1904
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: The management of lateral curvature of the spine : stooping, and the development of the chest in phthisis / by E. Noble Smith. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by UCL Library Services. The original may be consulted at UCL (University College London)

    49/156 (page 37)
    pressure would be very likely to increase the rotation. The convexity of each curve should be supported by one hand, while the other parts are operated upon gently, but the extent to which this support is carried out should be regulated by the surgeon. In applying massage to the convexity, gentle pressure may be used, but in the early stages the less that is attempted in the way of correcting the curves by this process the better. During the progress of treatment of the curvatures —that is to say, after perhaps three months' mechanical and other treatment has been carried out—massage may be useful to hasten the progress, and can then be applied with somewhat more firmness than in the early stages. When, after a certain period of treatment of a case of curvature, the spine is found to be straight, the muscles fairly well developed, but the body not quite so robust as one could wish, a course of massage will often ensure the permanence of the good position. Fuller details it would be difficult to give, because each patient presents personal peculiarities. In all cases the surgeon ought to watch the progress of the treatment, seeing the patients at intervals according to his discretion. Weir-Mitchell Treatment.—In a few cases, not