Convalescence and its stages, and some of the physical aids available for them / by William Ewart.

  • William Ewart
Date:
[1908?]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Convalescence and its stages, and some of the physical aids available for them / by William Ewart. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    welmoMmesc . a 2. The third stage is that which eventually takes ‘ ; . . . . . t jar A © private patients away to distant climates for recupera- j*—~ 7. -tion-;and our hospital patients away to convalescent homes. JI believe that it might sometimes be much 4 less delayed if both previous stages could be more actively managed, and somewhat shortened. T am of impression that an over anxiety for our patients is apt now and then to prolong the bed stage. Doubtless the management of wards is in a measure simplified by keeping some of the patients quietly in bed. And it cannot be gainsaid that, so long as a liberal diet is supplied, the principal purpose is being served, along lines of absolute safety. At the same time the main indication in convalescence is Zhe recovery of the tissues and of the functions by their graduated use. Any unnecessary delay in this system- atic re-education is wasteful, for unless we can exer- cise our bedridden convalescents in their beds it must be slow work for the muscular system and for the heart to tegain weight and power in the absence of the natural stimulus of movement. In surgical practice, it is now a recognised common- sense principle “to rest and protect the damaged part or limb, but to set the body free.’”? In most medical cases we have to deal with two similar indications, which are not incompatible if we know how to com- bine them, viz.: (1) the improvement of the general and of ‘the cardiac nutrition; and (2) the improve- ment of the local health and strength of the suffering or impaired peripheral mechanisms. Practical care devoted to these objects will be amply rewarded in the resulis. The Bed Stage. As regards the management of the convalescent during the resting period, time will not permit me to enter again into *he details of the method which I have described to you on previous occasions. To build up the strength and to grow the tissues, there are two requisites: food and oxygen. We have all been taught as students to supply food; but not all of us sufficiently taught to supply the oxygen. The earliest, the most indispensable, and the most profitable exercise for our bedridden convalescents is the systematic exercise of the respiratory function, which feeds and exercises the heart through its own perpetual stimulus, the work of the respiratory muscles. On the other hand, by smproving the blood and the circula- tion, it improves the nutrition of bone, cartilage, muscles, and joints, and of all the organs. JZassage and resistance movements are the next instalment to be provided for the patient whilst he is still confined to his bed. With these helps it is often possible to 22501241126
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