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The correct principles of treatment for angular curvature of the spine
The correct principles of treatment for angular curvature of the spine Author:Benjamin Lee Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: Fig. 8. tion to the erect posture, I sometimes add to the instrument the contrivance depicted in Fig. 8. It consists of a firm steel upright having a broad... more » padded crescentic top, and provided with a cross-piece. The upright is riveted to the hip-band on the side toward which the trunk yields, at a point immediately under the centre of the axilla,and is of such length that its upper crescentic border touches the axilla without making any upward pressure, the action being purely lateral. The cross-piece is riveted to the upright at a point a little below the seat of greatest curvature, and extends horizontally until it reaches the anterior and posterior planes of the body. A broad rhomboid binder, stiffened in its vertical diameter by a thin whalebone, passes around the convexity of the opposite side, and buckles by straps to either end of the cross-piece. A simple lateral force is thus exerted without compression of the thorax, usually contributing much to the comfort of the patient as well as to the removal of the deformity. Case III.—Miss A. K., aet. 13 years, was placed under my care by Dr. J. T. Carpenter, of Pottsville, Pa., in March, 1865. Rather more than three years before, her gait became stiff and peculiar, her strength notably diminished, and she evinced a constant desire for extraneous support by leaning against articles of furniture. Before long a slight prominence was discovered in the lower part of the back, and in a few weeks she began to suffer pain in both legs, especially the right, and to have cramps in the spinal muscles. The deformity progressed steadily though not rapidly, the general health slowly deteriorating until she became quite feeble and emaciated. At the time I first saw her, the spine presented a large irregular curve, involving the five...« less