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.

  • Bennett, William H. (William Henry), Sir, 1852-1931.
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. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    The great advantages of the treatment are: (1) the ease with which the patient is made comfortable by arresting the muscular spasm, and so relieving the pain; (2) the effecting of rapid absorption of effused blood &c.; (3) the prevention of stiffness by obviating the formation of adhesions; (4) the prevention of muscle-wasting and the preservation throughout the case of the normal nutrition of the limb ; and (5) the shortening of the time by about half during which the patient is prevented from resuming the ordinary use of the limb. The only real objections to the plan are, I think: (1) the difficulty which must often arise in carrying it out, as unless a competent masseur or masseuse is available the time required must frequently be more than the ordinary practitioner can spare ; and (2) the fact that the treatment is one requiring so much intelligence and discretion in the mode of its application that it may be difficult at all times to find a person to whom it may be entrusted with safety when the practitioner is not prepared to manage the details himself. The objection which has been raised on the ground that harmful movements of the fractured bones must result is of no value if the treatment is properly carried out, as the movement is then practically nil, and certainly not enough to prevent union in any degree whatever. What the results of the treatment of recent fractures by