A few words on kinesipathy, or Swedish medical gymnastics : the application of active and passive movements to the cure of diseases, according to the method of P.H. Ling, and on the importance of introducing mechanical agency into the practice of medicine / by Augustus Georgii.

  • Georgii, Augustus.
Date:
1850
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A few words on kinesipathy, or Swedish medical gymnastics : the application of active and passive movements to the cure of diseases, according to the method of P.H. Ling, and on the importance of introducing mechanical agency into the practice of medicine / by Augustus Georgii. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The University of Glasgow Library. The original may be consulted at The University of Glasgow Library.

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    P<aiis, in subduing convulsions in a boy three yeai'S old; and in a case of neui-algia of the supra-orbital nerve, a perfect and durable cure was thus effected.* The effect of a change, apparently insignificant, in the relative posi- tion of some of the parts of the body, is sometimes very remarkable. Dr. Negrier, in making the experiment on himself, observed, that by keepuig his aims above his head the bleeding from a wound on his lip ceased, and he inferred from this observation, that epistaxis wovdd thereby be stopped; and he gives cases in which, by du-ectiug his patients to keep their arms above the head for two or three minutes, bleeding from the nose ceased.f It is easy to convince ourselves of the efficacy of these simple means. The following observations can in some measure explain the fore- going facts. If the arms are kept stretched above the head in a vertical position, it sometimes produces faintness. The heart has thus to conquer the resistance of the gravity of the blood in the arteries of the upper extremities, and the consequence is a diminu- tion of the power of the blood in the arteiies of the brain.| Hemicrania, (Migraine), says Dr. Turenne, is a pain in the head resulting from the compression of the tri-facial nerve, and more particularly of its ophthalmic branch, caused by accumulation of blood in the sinuses on the base of the cranium, and especially the cavern- ous sinuses. By physiological reasoning, facts and experiments, he proves that certain positions of the head facilitate the flow of the blood towards the heart. It is fully proved, he says, that by paying attention to the position, du'ection and inclination of the sin- uses, to their communications with each other and with the veins outside the cranium, we can arrive at a precise knowledge of the position and movements calculated in many instances to prevent an attack of hemicrania, in all to render it less intense, and sometimes to dispel it altogether. I have never failed in obtaining the above results when I have requested the patients to place themselves in certain positions, in which they could remain during an attack, with- out experiencmg acute pain. Dr. Turenne proposes, therefore, * Revue medio. Janv. 1838. p. 2C1, 263. f Archive Gen. de Medicine. Juin, 18'1'2, from AUg. Rep. d. d. m. cli. Journa- tistik. Nov. 1842. p. 191. t Borrough, Beobacht. iiber die Krankh. d. cerebral. Blutkreislaufes, deutsch v. Dr. Pomer, Wicii, 1847. p. 49.