On the injuries and diseases of bones : being selections from the collected edition of the clinical lectures of Baron Dupuytren, Surgeon-in-chief to the Hôtel-Dieu at Paris / translated and edited by F. Le Gros Clark.
- Guillaume Dupuytren
- Date:
- 1847
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: On the injuries and diseases of bones : being selections from the collected edition of the clinical lectures of Baron Dupuytren, Surgeon-in-chief to the Hôtel-Dieu at Paris / translated and edited by F. Le Gros Clark. Source: Wellcome Collection.
Provider: This material has been provided by Royal College of Physicians, London. The original may be consulted at Royal College of Physicians, London.
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![An attentive observation of tliat position which is natural to a limb in a state of perfect repose, together with its effects on fractures, will very soon teach us how to apply the general directions which have just been given. As regards the means at our command for maintaining the position we may have selected, they vary according to the nature of the accident; but it is easy to understand that they must consist in giving such support to the parts as may preserve their proper relation without fatigue, and even present, in case of need, an opposing force to movements which may result from spasm or inadver- tency on the part of the patient, or such as may occur during sleep. Nearly all these ends are attained by the use of simple pillows, cushions, and mattresses, which yield and preserve, without trouble, the necessary forms; advantages which cannot be too highly appreciated, on account of the facility with which these articles may be at all times and in all places procured. APPARATUS FOU FRACTURES OF THE EXTREMITIES. As it is intended to exclude details from the present division of the subject, a cursory review of the principal forms of appa- ratus apx3licable to fractures of the extremities is all that will be at present attempted. In all cases of simple fracture of the upper extremities, un- accompanied by wound, the common rolled bandage is to be preferred. Some compresses are to be placed across the limb, as high as the seat of fracture, and over them splints of steel, cardboard, or wood. When the fracture is in the humerus the patient is made to sit down, and one, two, or three compresses are applied after which pads are placed on the four surfaces of the limb, and over them the splints, care being taken that the articular processes of bone be not pressed upon; this is then preserved in position by a bandage. In cases of fracture of the forearm the requisite materials are a roller four or five ells long, some pads, and two splints of the length of the forearm, or even a little longer, and always somewhat wider; lastly, an iron splint bent outwards. The patient being seated, one ' [These compresses arc rarely required, and often miscliicvous.—Tr.]](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b23982573_0037.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
