The function of therapeutic exercises in lateral curvature / Henry O. Feiss.

  • Feiss, Henry O.
Date:
[1906?]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The function of therapeutic exercises in lateral curvature / Henry O. Feiss. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    » Faeroe SME ee ge ee One oe ne Ms + eb awd Cnet [Reprint from THE CLEVELAND MEpICAL JoURNAL, February, 1906. | Lé Py ) ey a Ky . ker TO The Function of Therapeutic Exercises in Lateral Curvature ia In the condition called lateral curvature of the spine, it is important to remember that we are dealing, not merely with a local deformity, but one which implies a general change in shape in the entire torso, and often in parts more distant, so that we must not be tempted to direct our efforts upon the spinal column taken by itself. It is also important to remember that we are dealing with a non-organic condition in the great majority of cases, a condition brought on, not by disease in the bones, not by disease in the soft parts, but by muscular weakness and insufficiency, or by dispro- portion between muscular strain and ligamentous maintenance. The condition usually takes place as a result of faulty position, faulty in being insufficient for purposes of shapely balancing. Then if the position or attitude which was physic- logical in the start is prolonged so much as to become habitual, lateral curvature results. At the start habitual cases are usually manifested by long sweeping curves of the spinous processes, with or without a prom- inent hip, and usually with a slight dorsal convexity on one side of the thorax. It is this developing type in which therapeutic exer- cises have a most important scope, for such a curve is often the beginning of a more marked and rigid deformity, so that to get hold of these cases early is most satisfactory. We often find that in these early cases mere mental stimulation is enough to bring the torso into symmetry and beauty of contour. If such mental stimu- lation is sufficient, a few active or passive motions carried out systematically at regular intervals for a certain period of time may indeed be all that is required to divert nature’s progress
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