Specification of Joseph Amesbury : apparatus for the relief or correction of disorders of the human spine, chest, or limbs.

  • Joseph Amesbury
Date:
1857
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Specification of Joseph Amesbury : apparatus for the relief or correction of disorders of the human spine, chest, or limbs. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    Amesbury's Apparatus for Relieving Weakness, <$c. of the Chest, Spine, forming tlie sole of the boot, and rivetted firmly to the inner or upper part of the sole. The apparatus being applied to the limb, as shewn in Figure 28, operates upon it in the following manner:—The strap U, passed obliquely around the upper part of the thigh to the top of the steel bar N, operates in such a way as to bear as much of the superincumbent weight of the body as 5 may be needful, and communicates it through the medium of the bars of steel to the ground; the bars of steel having been adjusted to a sufficient length to answer this purpose by means of the screws p, p. If desirable, a stretching action may be produced between the foot and the body by means of the bar attached to the boot, as described; the boot having been previously firmly 10 secured or laced upon the foot, as shewn in Figure 28. The weight of the body being thus partially supported upon the bar, I can now commence reducing the distortion of the knee by tightening or buckling the straps 7, 7, more or less, as indicated by the state or condition of the parts, and also of the deformity of the ankle. It being thrown inwards may be corrected at the 15 same time by tightening or buckling the strap 13, which is passed around the limb above the ankle and the bar of the apparatus, as is also shewn in Figure 28. These operations may be continued and regulated according to the circumstances of the case. When the deformities are corrected the traction or stretching action upon the limb may be discontinued, and the limb 20 be suffered to bear the superincumbent weight of the body. The limb is to be supported in this manner until the muscles and ligaments have acquired a sufficient strength and firmness to retain the parts in their natural relative situation without artificial aid, in addition to which diet, medicine, exercise, and other proper curative means may likewise be employed. When the ankle is 25 turned outwards, which often happens in cases of this nature, the lower bar Q, besides being bent at a right angle at R, is again bent at S in another right angle, and the bar elongated parallel to the part of it Q, and as shewn in Figure 36; the top of this turned-up part being furnished with two loops, shewn at T, for a leather strap 13, Figure 29, to be passed through, a broader 30 part of which is passed around the inner part of the limb above the ankle, as is shewn in that Figure, and is then passed through the buckle and loop, and may be tightened from time to time as the surgeon or operator may deem advisable. Where the deformity of the ankle mentioned in the last case is but slight, a firm pad, cushion, or compress 14 may be introduced between the bar 35 of the apparatus and the limb, as seen in Figure 27, which will answer the desired object. This Figure 27 also affords an instance or example of the limb and apparatus being in the bent position, and where the slide or catch J has been withdrawn from the angular notch or gap L, previously to bending them.
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