Lectures on the Pathology and Treatment of Lateral and Other Forms of Curvature of the Spine

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Churchill, 1865 - Scoliosis - 334 pages
 

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Page 319 - ON THE REPARATIVE PROCESS IN HUMAN TENDONS AFTER SUBCUTANEOUS DIVISION FOR THE CURE OF DEFORMITIES.
Page 278 - lateral exercise, however, will not always recover a lateral curvature. The spine is sometimes so completely distorted and the vertebral column so entirely thrown out of the centre of gravity, that the muscles have lost their power. They are so stretched on the convex, and so contracted on the concave side of the curve, that they cannot act. In such cases lateral exercise will not alone be sufficient. More must be done — the spine itself must be elongated ; and the best method of accomplishing...
Page 121 - In lateral curvature of the spine we have a distinct demonstration that the articulating processes give way more extensively than any of the other parts of the column. This is evinced by the rotation which the spine makes in its perpendicular axis, at the same time that it inclines laterally. The joints of the articulating processes being situated posteriorly as well as laterally, the spinal column cannot yield in their direction, without wheeling partially round ; and it is owing to this rotation...
Page 279 - More must be done — the spine itself must be elongated ; and the best method of accomplishing this is by gravitation of the body. To effect this object I have invented a machine by which the patient can be raised up from the ground by the upper part of the body, while the lower part hangs suspended. Hence the lower part, by its own gravitation, and by additional weights being hung round the hips, gradually elongates the spinal column, until it becomes nearly if not quite, for the time being, straight.
Page 109 - ... was particularly insisted upon, attention being directed to the symmetrical relations or otherwise of the angles of the ribs in the dorsal region, and of the transverse processes in the lumbar region, rather than to the spinous processes, the apices of which...
Page 279 - ... convex, and so contracted on the concave side of the curve that they cannot act. In such cases lateral exercise will not alone be sufficient. More must be done. The spine itself must be elongated; and the best method of accomplishing this is by gravitation of the body. To effect this object I have invented a machine by which the patient can be raised up from the ground by the upper part of the body, while the lower part hangs suspended. Hence the lower part, by its own gravitation and by additional...
Page 279 - Hence the lower part, by its own gravitation, and by additional weights being hung round the hips, gradually elongates the spinal column, until it becomes nearly if not quite, for the time being, straight. In this manner the muscles on the concave side are lengthened, while those on the convex are shortened, and allowed to contract, whereby they are both put into a more favourable position to pull back and retain the vertebrae in their situation. After the machine has been used I usually recommend...
Page 39 - If we attend to the natural structure of the spine, it will be seen that whilst we lean the body to one side, the pressure is thrown, almost exclusively, upon the articulating processes of that side; these processes, delicate as they are, being the only bony structures which check the lateral movements of the trunk.
Page 170 - It is evident, then, that as these muscles are inserted into transverse levers, they become muscles of rotation as well as extension. For example, if the extensor muscles on both sides of the spine be thrown into equal action at the same moment, the motion produced will be direct extension of the column ; but, if they be thrown into action only on one side, the spine, although made to incline in the direction of the muscles' forces to that side, will be moved by means of the rotatory movement of...
Page 120 - ... structures which check the lateral movements of the trunk. Hence, when a habit is acquired of inclining to one side, or of resting upon one hip, as in sitting, the sharp edges of these small joints of bone receive the weight of the entire body. But as the articulating processes are remarkably soft, and imperfectly formed at the age of puberty, it follows that they will become wasted by absorption when this position is long persisted in, and an inequality of the length of these two lateral props,...

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