On the use of massage and early passive movements in recent fractures and other common surgical injuries and the treatment of internal derangements of the knee-joint : three clinical lectures delivered at St. George's Hospital / by William H. Bennett ; reprinted, after revision, from the Lancet with 12 illustrations.

  • Bennett, William Henry, Sir, 1852-1921.
Date:
1900
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: On the use of massage and early passive movements in recent fractures and other common surgical injuries and the treatment of internal derangements of the knee-joint : three clinical lectures delivered at St. George's Hospital / by William H. Bennett ; reprinted, after revision, from the Lancet with 12 illustrations. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine, through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine, Harvard Medical School.

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    of fracture of the olecranon treated by long-continued immobility in splints the detached fragment of the olecranon is fixed to the humerus. I do not mean that it is always fixed by bony ankylosis, but it is connected to the humerus by such strong adhesions that it is very difficult to move it at all. Further, it will be found that the utility of the limb in such cases is in direct proportion to the mobility of the detached fragment upon the humerus—in fact, the utility of the limb depends more upon this fac- tor than upon the apparent strength of the union. When the fragment is fixed it will be found upon commencing to bend the joint that movement is obtained, not by the gliding downwards of the upper fragment upon the humerus, as should be the case, but by a stretching of the union, the fragment remaining fixed ; and in such cases, although flexion may be obtained to a great degree, and sometimes completely, extension power is almost, if not entirely, wanting. So much is this sometimes the case in exaggerated cases that although the patient may be able to semiflex the arm or, perhaps, to flex it completely, if the limb is raised above the shoulder or by the side of the head the forearm falls down almost as in a paralysed limb in consequence of the triceps having lost its power from the fixation of the detached olecranon to the lower end of the humerus. If in the treatment of such a case trouble be taken