The treatment of tabetic ataxia by means of systematic exercise / by H.S. Frenkel.

  • Heinrich Frenkel
Date:
1917
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The treatment of tabetic ataxia by means of systematic exercise / by H.S. Frenkel. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    temporary paresis or a peculiar loss of tone resulting in abnormal mobility of the spinal column, or most frequently a combination of several or all the symptoms in some or all the aforementioned groups of muscles. Such patients are not only unable to move about by themselves ; they also move with great difficulty when in bed and when sitting up the pliability of their bodies makes that posture very tiresome. They are therefore permanently bedridden, labelled with the diagnosis “‘tabetic ataxia of the legs,” when in reality the ataxia of their lower limbs may be very trifling when compared with the ataxia of the body which compels them to keep to the bed. The treatment of the ataxia of the body is governed by the same principle as that of the extremities; the exercises are chiefly walking exercises, but in special cases movements may be added which are intended to re-educate the muscles of the trunk. DURATION OF THE PRACTICE OF MOVEMENTS. The practice of any movement causes tabetic patients much fatigue and mental strain. If the practice be continued beyond the point when the patient begins to shew signs of inattention or fatigue the good effect otherwise produced by the practice will be lost again for the exercises are useful only when the attention of the patient is fully concentrated on them. The necessity of concentrating his attention, the muscular exertion, the fear of accidents, the annoyance which the patient feels especially in the beginning of the treatment because his limbs will not “obey orders’’—all this combines to produce rapidly a most marked feeling of fatigue. It becomes then the duty of the medical man who superintends the practice not to continue the practice of each movement for longer than three or four minutes ; in severe cases or when the patient is in a bad state of nutrition one-half to one minute will be quite sufficient, at any rate until the patient has become strong enough to bear the strain of longer-continued practice. Exercisesin the recumbent position are generally easier for the patient than those to be practised in the erect position, like walking. Each “ course”’ comprises a series of individual exercises which are graduated
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