An essay on the prevention & rational treatment of lateral spinal curvature.

  • Roth, Mathias, 1839-1891.
Date:
1885
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: An essay on the prevention & rational treatment of lateral spinal curvature. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Augustus C. Long Health Sciences Library at Columbia University and Columbia University Libraries/Information Services, through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the the Augustus C. Long Health Sciences Library at Columbia University and Columbia University.

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    movements, partly by passive manipulations, or douches of salt water; in a similar way the knee and hip joints are strengthened, and thus a kind of strong basis is prepared, on which the body is to be carried. After such a preparatory treatment, during which the patient begins to gain in strength and energy, the special treatment of the spine itself begins. It is always necessary to attend first to the lower and lumbar curve; for this purpose the patient is placed into a riding position, his body is turned or bent, one or both arms are raised into different positions which are chosen according to the individual case; the spine is, partly by the patient himself and partly by the medical man, stretched in the direction of the convexity of the curve, to such an extent as can be borne without pain. In this and similar positions, in which the lumbar curve is either diminished or entirely disappears, various curative movements suitable to the individual case are carried out, while the patient either assists or resists the movement; later the patient, while leaning on, or supported by some gymnastic apparatus, is placed into a special standing position, and further movements are done in order to lengthen the spine : by this time a change in the previously relaxed and retracted tissues takes place, the wedging of the invertebral substance diminishes, and the patient begins to be able with the help of special positions of his arms, to assume, at least for part of a minute, a more normal position. Whenever the first stage of improvement takes place, the further and quicker progress of the cure depends upon the assiduity of the patient in carrying out the given instructions ; he gains daily a greater power of retaining a good position, firstly with the aid of his arms, later without them, but merely by the effort of the wTill; he learns to walk during one minute in a good position, this minute is repeated several times a day; in a short time the number of minutes is doubled, and the period of walking prolonged. This self-acting method of the patient is combined with the ordinary treatment, and finally, although