On the nature and treatment of the deformities of the human frame : being a course of lectures delivered at the Royal Orthopaedic Hospital in 1843 ; with numerous notes and additions to the present time / by W.J. Little.
- William Little
- Date:
- 1853
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: On the nature and treatment of the deformities of the human frame : being a course of lectures delivered at the Royal Orthopaedic Hospital in 1843 ; with numerous notes and additions to the present time / by W.J. Little. Source: Wellcome Collection.
Provider: This material has been provided by UCL Library Services. The original may be consulted at UCL (University College London)
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![3G3 a broad band passed beneath this part, attached above to the framework of the bed in such a manner as to cause the trunk to be almost suspended in this lateral position. The attachments of the band above the body were gradu- ally shortened, until the weight of the head and shoulders above, and of the pelvis and lower extremities below, powerfully drew asunder the contracted ribs and verte- bras. In short, the plan adopted was that recommended for ordinary lateral curvature by Lafond, Shaw, and Lonsdale. The child was placed in this position at first half an hour daily, the treatment gradually lengthened to several hours daily, and in a short time was cheerfully borne during the whole time the child was not engaged in run- ning about for amusement. The beneficial effect of the treatment was visible after a few days' application of it; and at the end of three months the reduction of defor- mity was so considerable, as to leave no doubt of the pos- sibility of obviating, at least in children, this serious ter- mination of empyema.*] Inequality in the length of the lower extremities has been assigned as a frequent cause of distortion of the spinal column. I have several times witnessed lateral inclination combined with actual difference in the length of the lower limbs, as when the growth of one had been impaired in childhood from scrofulous abscess in the leg and foot; but I have examined no case in which, notwithstanding the shortening, other causes of lateral curvature did not exist. On the contrary, it is very remarkable, according to my experience, that difference in the length of the lower extremities is so rarely accompanied with deformity of the spine.f Amongst many hundreds of cases of conge- • The models of the case before and after treatment are in the author's possession, and are at the service of his medical brethren. f The contrary has been often asserted. The conclusions on this head, published ten years since, were based upon observation ; and it is useless to reason theoretically, that according to mechanical principles de-](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b21289141_0381.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
