The therapeutic value of massage in acute diseases : read in the Section on Pharmacology of the American Medical Association, at the fifty-fifth annual session, June, 1904 / Jay W. Seaver.

  • Seaver, Jay W. (Jay Webber), 1855-1915.
Date:
1905
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The therapeutic value of massage in acute diseases : read in the Section on Pharmacology of the American Medical Association, at the fifty-fifth annual session, June, 1904 / Jay W. Seaver. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    ilar processes. If the appropriate massage of the knee joint can effectually promote the absorption of exudate, may it not equally be expected that appropriate manip- ulation will promote the absorption of an intrapleural effusion? Or, if the effusion is due to a prolonged hyperemia of the pleural membrane, is it not barely possible that appropriate attention given to the cir- culation of the blood and lymph in the thoracic wall may prevent effusion ? If any person doubts the derivative influence of mas- sage on membranes that are untouched by the process, I ask any such person to experiment on himself the next time he has a severe coryza by vigorous massage of the skin around the base and over the bridge cf the nose. The balance between what may be considered normal circulation in a part and hyperemia is so deli- cate that very slight nerve stimulation, if properly ap- plied, may turn the system in one direction or the other. MASSAGE IN NEURALGIAS. In neuralgias the relief by appropriate manipulation is often very marked, and apparently the nutrition of the affected nerve trunk is so influenced that the nor- mal balance is soon secured, and it is found that the pressure along the nerve trunks, to a certain extent, corresponds to a stretching that was long ago found to be an efficient method of treating persistent neu- ralgias. In sciatica the new method of nerve stretch- ing has been found to be quite as efficient as the surgical method that, has been to some extent in vogue. J may say in passing that this new method of stretching consists in flexing the thigh on the trunk as far as convenient, then extending the leg on the thigh so far as can be borne by the patient, and at the same time flexing the foot on the leg as a final part of the movement. This makes the course of the sciatic nerve as long as it can be made in any movement of the body, and where the nerve is extremely sensitive must be done under an anesthetic if carried to its complete extent, which is not always necessary or desirable. I think I am correct in saying that this method is essen- tially the only one used in the treatment of sciaticas among Scandinavian peoples, and is followed to a considerable extent in France and Germany. Of course, the diseases mentioned are only illustra-
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