The treatment of gout in its various forms / by Arthur P. Luff.

  • Luff, Arthur Pearson, 1855-1938.
Date:
[1903]
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: The treatment of gout in its various forms / by Arthur P. Luff. 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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    acute gout, by elderly patients, and by those suffering from any serious cardiac affection. BATHS AND MASSAGE. A sedentary life and deficient exercise conduce to gout, owing to a lowering of general metabolism, to depressed vigour of blood-circulation, and to impairment of movement of the lymph in the lymph-channels. Since the lymph-circulation is mainly carried on by muscular movements and respiration, the beneficial influence of massage and muscular movements on many gouty subjects becomes readily intelligible. Massage should never be resorted to in cases of acute gout, as such treatment not only aggravates the disease at that stage, but also causes severe pain ; it should be reserved for the more chronic cases. Massage produces an increase in the amount of blood and lymph passing through the tissues concerned, both during massage and after its cessation. This increased circu- lation improves the nutrition of the affected tissues, promotes absorption of deposits, and restores physiological activity. In cases of subacute or chronic gout, where the joints remain swollen and cedematous and are the seat of considerable deposits, much benefit is frequently derived from massage and galvanism. The affected joints should be massaged, each one for a few minutes, and then galvanism (five to ten milliamperes) applied to each joint for a few minutes with the negative pole over the affected region. The galvanism is then to be followed by a few minutes’ massage. Under this combined treatment the oedema and the deposits frequently disappear rapidly. Probably the beneficial effects are due mainly to the increased circulation of blood and lymph induced, and the consequent absorption that takes place. I have also found in many cases that a decidedly beneficial influence on gouty joints is produced by radiant-heat baths, followed by electrical treatment in the form of cataphoresis to the affected joints. Radiant-heat and superheated-air baths increase the oxidative processes within the body, as is shown by the increased elimination of carbon dioxide from the lungs, and also by the increased metabolism of the body in general. They also st mulate the circulation both of the blood and P 7518.— B