New movements in the manual treatment / Arvid Kellgren.

  • Kellgren, Arvid.
Date:
[1894?]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: New movements in the manual treatment / Arvid Kellgren. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    Which method of procedure (frictions or vibrations) should be adopted, depends upon the position and surroundings of the nerve, and upon the presence or absence of pain. When we have to do with a muscular or a mixed nerve, and when our intention is only to stimulate it in an ordinary way, we apply frictions and pass up and down its course ; but when pain is present, or the nerve is purely sensory, vibrations, either alone or followed by constant pressure, are to be preferred. In giving these frictions or vibrations to a nerve, it is neces¬ sary that the operator should either feel it, or when it lies deeply, be well down on it, and that the tissues between the fingers of the operator and the nerve should move with the former, as otherwise the frictions do not reach the nerve. The effects produced by these nerve vibrations seem, as far as I can judge, to be the following :— 1. liaising of the nervous energy. • 2. Diminution of pain. 3. Contraction of the Capillaries. 4. Stimulation of the muscles to contraction. 5. Increased secretion of the glands. 6. Diminished excretion from the skin. 7. Lowering of the temperature. There is no doubt but that by means of nerve vibrations combined with other passive and active movements, not only can the progress of most of the nervous disorders be stemmed, but even a cure effected. Such illnesses as Neuralgia, Migraine, etc., are treated by this method every day with complete success, when the other ordinary medical resources have been exhausted in vain. I have seen several cases of Paralysis, Locomotor Ataxia, Spastic Paralysis, Infantile Paralysis, etc., which have been greatly relieved by this method. But the results of the manual treatment in these and other nervous disorders would be still greater, if patients had recourse to it sooner than is usually the case. At present it is used as a