On the mechanical treatment of chronic inflammation of the joints of the lower extremities : with a description of some new apparatus for producing extension at the knee and ankle-joints / by Lewis A. Sayre.

  • Lewis Sayre
Date:
1865
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: On the mechanical treatment of chronic inflammation of the joints of the lower extremities : with a description of some new apparatus for producing extension at the knee and ankle-joints / by Lewis A. Sayre. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

    12/28 page 12
    the patient to exercise in the open air at the same time that the extension is continued, which is so important in the treatment of all chronic inflammations of the joints. Although I have used this apparatus in many cases with most marked benefit, both in private practice and in Bellevue Hospital, for nearly seven years, yet I have never published or described it, except to the different classes of students in attendance at the Hospital. But having tested it thoroughly, I can commend it with confidence, in all cases where extension of the knee is required, and exercise at the same time necessary. The apparatus is constructed in the following manner: Two bands or collars of firm sheet iron, about an inch wide, embrace the limb—the one above the ankle the other at the upper third of the thigh—by means of a hinge on one side, and a lock on the other like a dog- collar, and connected, on either side, by a firmly- riveted steel rod, in the centre of which works a male and female screw, which can be retained at any given point by a small thumb-screw working in its side and fastening to the worm or thread of the larger screw. (See Fig. 4.1) To apply this instrument, adhesive plaster is re- quired, spread on strong cloth and cut in strips one inch wide, and long enough to reach from just below the knee to near the ankle, and also from the knee for several inches above the joint, upon the thigh, as seen in Fig. 5. These plasters are secured to within an inch of their extremities by a snugly-adjusted roller, as seen in Fig. 6. The instrument is then placed on the limb, the collars fastened sufficiently tight to be comfortable, and the loose ends of the adhesive plaster turned over them and secured by a roller. The connecting rods are ex- tended by means of the screw, the articulating surfaces of the tibia and femur separated from each other, and the limb brought nearly straight, as in Figs. 7 and 8, until pressure can be made on the 1 Since writing this paper I have made an improvement in this instrument by dividing the rings into two halves, which slide together in place of being hinged. The plaster has a strong loop of webbing sewed on each strip, and the separated ends of the rings can be passed through these loops before being locked, which is more neat than the former plan, and more easily readjusted. Fig. 4. Dr. Sayre’s apparatus for extension at knee-joint.
    digitised image 1
    digitised image 2
    digitised image 3