On certain disregarded defects of development : chiefly in relation to the curves of the spine / by T.W. Nunn.

  • Nunn, T. W. (Thomas William), 1825-1909.
Date:
1888
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: On certain disregarded defects of development : chiefly in relation to the curves of the spine / by T.W. Nunn. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

    15/28
    with imperfect development of the muscles of the leg. It may be useful here to mention that an opposite condition in the lumbar region—namely, an exaggeration of the lumbar curve also appears to affect the nutrition of the muscles of the leg. The imperfect development of the muscles of the leg is shown in their being shorter than is natural ; consequently the movements of the ankle-joint are impeded, and the front of the foot is subjected to various degrees of distortion—a condition that inter- feres with the act of locomotion. Thus, awkward walking may he a symptom—something more than an ungainliness. The movement of the foot in walking on level ground (not in climbing a flight of stairs or a steep road), is a rolling motion from the heel to the tips of the toes, especially to the tip of the great toe, in a somewhat curved line. It may be best demonstrated by reversing the movement—that is to say, by stepping backwards ; in this movement the great toe first touches the ground, and the rolling action goes on by the outer side of the foot to the heel until the foot becomes firmly planted on the ground. Pettigrew, in his work on Animal Locomotion, says the heel first reaches, and first leaves, the ground ; when the heel is elevated the weight of the body falls more and more on the centre of the foot and toes, the latter spreading out to seize the ground. He adds, the spreading action of the toes is seen to perfection in children. It is, he says, more or less destroyed in adults, from a faulty principle in shoe- making, &c. My own view of this matter is, that the loss of the spreading of the toes is not so much caused