Medical testimony in regard to the proper mechanical treatment of joint diseases.

  • Henry Gassett Davis
Date:
1862
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Medical testimony in regard to the proper mechanical treatment of joint diseases. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the National Library of Medicine (U.S.), through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the National Library of Medicine (U.S.)

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    a lengthy article by Dr. Davis, on 'Deformities and their Remedies;' and here the whole plan of mechanical treatment, not only for hip disease, but also for disease of other joints, lateral curvature of the spine, Pott's disease, wry-neck, bowlegs, and club-feet, is fully laid clown. Nay, more even, the advantages and applicability of the same principle in the treatment of fractures,* wounds, and all inju- ries about the joints, are strongly insisted on. The special treatment under consideration was again taken up at the conclusion of 'A Case of Pott's Disease, with Remarks on Morbus Ooxarius, etc.,'Monthly, November, 1859; and also in the 'New York Journal of Medicine] for the same month, (Nov., 1859,) in an article on 'The Effects of Pressure upon the Ulcerated Vertebra?, and in Morbus Coxarius, and the Relief afforded by Mechanical Remedies, with Cases.' Finally, in April, 1860, he published 'On the Mechanical Means adopted in the Treatment of Morbus Coxarius. By H. G. Davis, M D. ( With a Plate.') From this full and able paper we quote: ' I have delayed bringing the subject of this paper before the profession until time had given me an opportunity, not only to overcome any minor diffi- culties that might arise, but to test its application, and compare the results with the modes heretofore practiced. It is an unfortunate circumstance that so many new things are hurried before the profes- sion in a crude state, to be condemned or die of neglect, when they could have been highly useful if the inventor or discoverer had taken time to digest and mature his plans, and then apply them until all objections or difficulties should be overcome.' ' Muscular contrac- tions perform an important part in the destruction of a joint,' and ' elastic extension is the true and philosophical method of overcoming muscular contraction.' He tells us he has 'invented an apparatus for applying these principles to diseased hip, knee, and other joints, 1 a method of treating this disease [morbus coxarius] which I have pursued for twelve years; and as it has never been [thoroughly] brought before the profession, it becomes necessary to describe it minutely. Then follows a lengthy description of the instrument, its application, &c &c We should also here notice that he has introduced, with the instrument, an important arrangement of material for all surgical pur- poses viz., corrugated cast steel, giving strength with lightness. Thus surgery is indebted to Dr. Davis not only for the invention of an apparatus really yet unimproved upon, but also for the intro- duction of a method of treatment based on the true pathology ot the disease, and the principles upon which successful treatment depends in all its stages. . »■'■*• The essential parts of the apparatus are, simply, means of exerting a continuous-extending force on one side, and a resisting counter-ex- tending one on the other. Many persons cannot comprehend in what really consists the difference between Dr. Davis's apparatus and some of the means previously employed, because the word extension misleads them They do not make the distinction between the force that Ux- edly sustains a limb in a position previously■more or less extended, and ♦ Dr <Jardon Buck, of New York City, has fully demonstrated the advanta- ges atl e application of the principle to fractures See^ncan Medtcal Times, and Transactions of the New York Academy of Medicine, Vol. II., Part VII., p. 2:53. ;
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