Minor ailments : their medical and surgical treatment / by a medical practitioner.
- Date:
- 1892
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: Minor ailments : their medical and surgical treatment / by a medical practitioner. Source: Wellcome Collection.
169/208 (page 157)
![detail under lumbago, one of the chief varieties of mas- cular rheumatism. Another, not uncommon, is torticollis, or stiff neck, most frequently occurring in the young; while in other cases the tibro-muscuiar substance of the chest (pleurod)-nia), the scalp (ccphalody]iia), or the abdominal walls, may be the seat of the affection. Treatment.—Some importance attaches to proper arrangements for the nursing of a patient struck down by rheumatic fever. In view of the tendei-ness and exquisite sensitiveness of the joints which characterizes acute rheumatism, the bed should be hard, and stand firmly on a firm floor ; it should be accessible from both sides, and a pair of blankets must be placed between the sheets, and the patient between them. This is necessary owing to the profuse perspiration. For local application a host of liniments, counter- irritants and lotions have been adopted and recommended, but none of thcni seem to be of any practical value. The simplest method of local treatment, and one that often affords great relief, consists in bathing the affected joints with Avarm alkaline water and enveloping in cotton-wool over which is wrapped an ordinary roller bandage; or it may be sewn up in flannel. On tlie Continent the prin- ciple of this treatment is carried further and the joints put in splints or encased in plaster of Paris bandages, so as to render movement impossible. Earely some form of opium, belladonna, or other well-known anodynes may be necessary to relieve pain. Among the older remedies given internally, the salicy- lates hold the foremost place. The sodium salt may be given ill doses of 2U grns. every four hours, but the dose is better adjusted to the individual case ; the unpleasant taste is disguised by administei'ing it in effervescing potash Avater. The alkalies, especially bicarbonate of soda, Avith or without quinine. Of the newer synthetical remedies, antipyrine, acetani- lide, phenacetine and phenocoU hydrochloride, have been more or less Avarmly adA^^cated. Cases are recorded in the literature of each, where A'cry satisfactory results haA^e been obtained ; and probably they Avould be worth trial if](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b20415114_0169.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
