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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![they take exercise, and the greater freedom with which they respire. I have witnessed no instances in which the health of the patient has not at the same time improved. It is unnecessary to remark, that in the use of all me- chanical contrivances for the relief of deformities, as much will depend upon the manner of application as upon the apparatus itself. Do not hastily attempt too much, but gradually accustom your patient to its use. It is well to remember the maxim, arte non vi, in this as in other de- formities (p. 37). Benefit may also be derived by causing a shoe with raised heel to be worn on the side on which the ilium is depressed. It counteracts the habitual sink- ing of the side through the improper attitude instinctively assumed. It rectifies the position of the pelvis, and com- pels the spinal column to attempt, as it were, its own res- toration (p. 386). Manipulations, frictions, suitable exercises, modified calisthenics, as they are termed, by which the muscles of the upper part of the frame, particularly those of the left side, may be excited to activity and strengthened, serve to fulfil the third indication. It is necessary, however, to guard against too great exertion or fatigue. By judicious application of the principles I have laid down, and by avail- ing yourselves of the practical hints I have given you, you may, in the majority of spinal lateral curvatures of not. more than three or four years' duration [as at the age of from ten to fifteen], succeed in re-establishing the straight line of the spinal column.* It is more difficult to remove * Lateral curvature of the spine is essentially a chronic affection ; its pro- gress—from the slightest want of correspondence of the hips or shoulders, and an amount of deviation of the spinal column imperceptible to the ordinary eye, to that stage in which one shoulder and subjacent ribs form an unsightly dor- sal protuberance, the opposite axilla reaching to within a hand's-breadth of the corresponding hip,—occasionally occupies a period of many years. In the majority of cases the weakness is during several months entirely overlooked. During another period of several months, the simplest means of ameliorating the figure are resorted to, such as attention to attitude, gymnastic exercises,](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b21289141_0409.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
