Historical notes on the question of the value of traction in the treatment of hip disease / by A.B. Judson.

  • Judson, Adoniram Brown, 1837-1916.
Date:
1893
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Historical notes on the question of the value of traction in the treatment of hip disease / by A.B. Judson. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    1786 and 1787, said: “ Tliis stiffness of the joint depends on the involuntary contraction of the muscles, and is in consequence of the muscles sympathizing with the joint.” “ Of Muscles losing their Action from Injuries done to Joints, Tendons, and Ligaments.—It is remarkable that an injury done to tendons, ligaments, fasciae, etc., especially of the strain kind, impair [sic] the muscles more than when the muscles themselves are injured, so that these muscles appear to sympathize with those parts of little motion and become wasted and w^eakened in consequence. I think this arises from sympathy, or a consciousness of the parts being nnable to answer to the action of the muscles, and it comes nearest to human reason of anything in the body. If the affection be temporary, as in common inflammation, the muscles do not waste, being conscious that the parts will recover.” * Reflex contractions were observed in hip disease by Guersant and Maisonneuve, and were considered by them as important guides to diagnosis.f Traction and counter- traction were applied to prevent their evil effects in the practice of Le Sauvage, J Brodie, * Alden March, || and Gus- tav Ross. ^ * Leclares on the Principles of Surgery, Philadelphia edition, 1839, pp. 284, 290. •f De la coxalgie. Thfese de Paris, 1844, Maisonneuve, p. 106. X See quotation, p. 23. *See quotation, pp. 11, 12. II See quotation, p. 24. ^ See quotation, p. 28. Other surgeons applied traction and counter- traction in hip disease, but without intending especially to combat muscu» lar action: Ducros, Gaz. des hopiiaux, June 3, 1836, p, 311; Harris, Med. Examiner, Philadelphia, January 19, 1839, pp. 37-40; Bonnet, TraUe des maladies des articulations, Lyons, 1846; Zannetti, Bidl. gen. de therapeutique, 1863 (from Gaz. med. 7’oscana), pp. 136, 137. They used the apparatus in vogue at the time for the treatment of fracture of the femur.