A new mode of treatment of congenital talipes : also a new mode of amputation at the ankle-joint / by I.N. Quimby.

  • Quimby, I.N.
Date:
1875
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A new mode of treatment of congenital talipes : also a new mode of amputation at the ankle-joint / by I.N. Quimby. 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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    unsatisfactory. I thought there should be some more philo- sophical way of meeting this difficulty ; so, after using various means, I at last found it in adhesive strips, to my gratification. I would like to call the attention of the med- ical profession to a few important points regarding this method of treatment. 1. That the assertion is erroneous, made by many eminent writers on orthopaedic surgery, that if the deformity is due to muscular contraction, it cannot be cured without tenotomy. 2. The rule, as is practiced at the present day, of waiting from three to six months, or a year, before treatment is commenced, thereby allowing the tendons and ligaments to become more firm and unyielding, and the deformity more marked, is a waste of the most valuable time in the patient’s life for the cure of this malformation, and may make all the difference between perfect and partial restoration. 3. That the feet can be completely and perfectly restored, however aggravated, when taken at the early period of from three to four weeks after birth. 4. The space of time required for restoration is not so long, and, besides, all the cumbersome shoes, with steel splints, elastic bands, etc., are dispensed with. 5. The utility of this treatment is such that it is not con- fined to a few expert surgeons, but every medical man, however remote in his rural practice, can use it with benefit to his patient; and if the deformity is, as asserted by some, due to defective innervation or motor paralysis, the adhesive plaster will act in a double capacity by giving mechanical support, and slightly stimulating, by its application, the cutaneous surface of the innervated muscles. 6. Again, it causes less suffering to the little patient, and is not so liable to cause irritation, ulceration, or sloughing of the integument, which is sometimes the case with other methods. 7. During the time of treatment by this method, the foot and limb are very little, if any, confined; and if the deformity is in one foot only, after the plasters and bandages are applied, the mother may have the great satisfaction of