On the technology of mechano-therapy and resistance movements in the treatment of heart disease / by Thomas Stretch Dowse.

  • Dowse, Thomas Stretch
Date:
1898
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: On the technology of mechano-therapy and resistance movements in the treatment of heart disease / by Thomas Stretch Dowse. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    It is not necessary to carry out all the customary movements for the abdomen; brisk friction is first employed, then the deeper movements follow, to be succeeded by vibration, and lastly by ulnar tapotement. It is almost invariably my custom to make the patient wear an abdominal belt in cases of heart failure. In addition to these manipulations, passive respiratory exercises are of great utility; they should bj carried out after the Sylvester method, viz., the extended arms are grasped firmly by the operator and drawn up vertical with, and over the head. The arms are then flexed upon the forearms and carried well into the sides of the chest. This procedure may be carried out for three or more times, making a pause of thirty or forty seconds between each. It is often advantageous to make the patient use volitional effort, both in flexion and extension when these movements are being performed. Whilst referring to Syl- vester's method for artificial respiration, it is well to draw atten- tion to the good effect produced on weak hearts by making the subject undergo a form of volitional respiratory gymnastics, by which there follows an augmentation in the flow ot blood from the venous to the arterial side of the circulation. By a suc- cession of six or eight deep inspirations, followed by prolonged and volitional expiration, the abdominal muscles by their con- traction compress the abdominal veins, and thus stimulate the heart to increased action.
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