Improved appliances for the mechanical treatment of joints / by Charles Frederick Stillman.

  • Stillman, Charles F. (Charles Frederick)
Date:
1878
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Improved appliances for the mechanical treatment of joints / by Charles Frederick Stillman. 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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    IMPROVED APPLIANCES FOE THE Mechanical Treatment of Joints. BY Chas. F. Stillman, M. D., of Plainfield, N. J. For the successful treatment of injuries or diseases of the human frame, im- mobility has always been recognized as one of the chief requisites. But it often becomes necessary to supplement the immobility with extension or retraction, in order to overcome deformity or separate • diseased surfaces from one another. Facilities for inspection of the diseased part may be added as a third condition. To combine these has been a problem engaging the ablest minds in Surgery for centuries. Braces innumerable have been invented, and many immovable dressings devised: but each has been found to possess certain faults which renders it unfit for universal application and which prevents it from being universally employed. It has been reserved for the year 1878, to bring forward a system of appli- ances for the mechanical treatment of abnormal conditions of the human frame, founded upon principles which allow of its application alike to all portions of the body, and yet so simple and inexpensive that it can be generally adopted. Materials. These consist in the combination of two factors, viz.: 1st. hnmovable dress- ings, and 2d. Adjustable brackets. I.—Immovable Dressings. These are many in number, and are used to form the bases upon which the terminal plates of the brackets are to rest, and to secure them in position.