NO COMPLETE CURE YET FOUND FOR RHEUMATISM
Some of the old conceptions of the earlier treatment of rheumatoid complaints were exploded and dismissed by one of New Zealand’s best authorities on the disease, Dr. G. A. Q. Lennane, Dominion Director of Physical Medical Research, Rotorua, in an address to the Whakatane Rotary Club on the modern approach to rheumatic diseases. Dr. Lennane claimed that in the treatment by mineral water benefit was gained from the heat applied to the diseased parts of the body,, not as originally thought by the water penetrating the skin. Heat of any nature relieved rheumatic complaints. That was really all that could be done at Rotorua.
Rheumatism, Dr. Lennane added, still defied all medical science. The fact that there was no genuine cure could. be seen by the number of dopes, pills and other so-called remedies at present on the market. Although it would not seem possible it was true that a large number of New Zealanders suffered from some type of rheumatoid complaint before they reached, the age of 60. It was equally true that few New Zealanders had not. suffered from twinges at sometime or another.
The treatment that he recommended, Dr. Lennane added, was resting of the affected part of the body. He maintained that to cure any type of illness it was necessary to rest the diseased organ or limb while recuperating. In some of his cases he had gone so far as to place an affected limb in plaster and patients he had treated in this way invariably experienced relief. Turning to the possible curative abilities of surgery Dr. Lennane said it had been employed with some success. Affected joints were treated by the insertion of metal caps to allow freedom of movement in the sockets. However, with all these different methods of treating rheumatoid complaints no complete cure had yet been discovered by medical science. In New/Zealand the disease was being tackled, Dr. Lennane eluded, and it was proposed to extend the present service at Rotorua and also to build a larger hospital.
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Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 13, Issue 90, 23 May 1949, Page 5
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344NO COMPLETE CURE YET FOUND FOR RHEUMATISM Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 13, Issue 90, 23 May 1949, Page 5
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