The functional treatment of fractures. Part One.

The purpose of this film was to disseminate a report by the BMA in 1935 on the revised principles of treating fractures. The four principles the film would like to uphold in the care of the patient is segregation, continuity of supervision, after-care and unity of control. The film starts with shots of the waiting room, a young man is then booked by the almoner. The patient goes in to the examination room. The film follows the patient and is particularly good at showing the transition from department to department and all the medical staff in situ. He has his arm x-rayed. The young man receives light anaesthesia and has his arm put in plaster. He is instructed on which exercises to do. There are shots in a women's ward; a woman has her hands submerged in a sink which bubbles away. In a gymnasium, male patients who have had various injuries demonstrate their mobility and strength. A man lifts a wheelbarrow with clearly heavy paving stones in, then lifts one repeatedly. Ends suddenly.