THE CRIPPLED CHILD.

Press, Volume LVII, Issue 17105, 29 March 1921, Page 10

THE CRIPPLED CHILD.

TREATMENT AT TRENTHAM. The war has left many legacies, mostly bad, but there are Some good ones. For instance, out of the great mass of suffering of men in the field and in hospital has come an advance in medical science which it is yet too early to measure. The lessons learnt in war may often be applied in peace, and the devotion of the doctor to the restoration of the shattered human frame to a life of usefulness has lately extended further to the treatment of children whom disease in early years has deprived of the full use or natural shape of body and limb. So out at the Trentham Military Hospital during the past summer the everjjathetio sight ot war-torn men in "blue," maimed and crippled, hobbling about the grounds on sticks, hai been strangely relieved by another equally sad spectacle of little children, deformed, halt, and lame," moving in .he midst of the veterans. These are tbe unfortunate sufferers by those infantile diseases which produce paralysis and distortion of the body or limbs. Life, in a sense, has been unkinder to them than to the soldier, for they have never known years of full activity* Yet neither for the children nor for the men in blue is it a case of despair; medical science has its message of hope for both alike. Just as tho battered veteran has been set on his feet again—true, often, by. artificial appliancesr-;so a great deal may be done, and is being done, to fit the crippled child to take a part in life. Out of tho 237 patients in the Trentham Hospital to-day, 33 are children undergoing the orthopoedic treatment which has proved of such" immense value to the crippled soldier. The experience gained in the great hospitals in England during and after the war, and on a smaller scale in the military hospitals in England, is already bearing good fruit in the. work introduced among the children hv=st October. A representative of the 'Wellington "Post," under the guidance of .Colonel A. R. D., Carbery, 0.0. of the Trentham Hospital, had an opportunity of seeing the work in progress last week. The treatment is highly skilled and needs the co-oper-ation of a team of enthusiasts, experts each in his own line. Such a team has U/en brought together at Trentham, and the success obtained with the soldiers is likely to. be repeated with the children. In the few months during which children have been, at the hospital astonishing results have been achieved. Children who have never walked before have been given the means of comparatively free locomottion, and to them a new vista of life accordingly opens. There ia no miracle about it—simply the application of the highest skill, patience, and perseverance.

First of-all it must be said frankly that medical science; does not yet know .v cure for the fell diseases which bring about the deformities seen at Trentham. Infantile paralysis or anterior polyomelitis affects certain nerve centres in tho spine, and control over the parts reached by these nerves is lost. Limbs wither and become deformed or the boay itself may lose shape. The body or limb cannot; be\ restored to its original activity, but limbs may be straightened and 1 distortions removed and appliances made and fitted to enable the patient to walk and work. This is what h actually done. A plaster mould'is made of the part or the ■ body affected, and from mould a plaster case. The k case ia studied, and _ a specialist—in this instance Major Stout—manipulates the limb or part ■of the body, or,• if necessary, which is rarer, performs an operation to'secure the'desired end of a limb or other mem\.'ber capable' of performing a certain limited function'in carrying an auxiliary appliance or assisting the child to • get about. < . Massage and physio-therapeutio treatment are employed where desirable to : promote the remedial measures. Meanwhile, experts-in an adjoining workshop "are 'manufacturing the auxiliary aparatus'required for the well-being of the patient. Bach case fc treated absolutely according to ita needs from the plaster casts of the actual limb or other part of the body. The "callipers" or metal supports for the. limb are skil- - fully wrought out of duralumin—the aluminium, alloy which is nearly aa light aa its-mofher metal, and nearly as strong asi 3teel > ,. Straps and clips suitably padded aincl leather bound unite the support to the limb, and with it the patient can 'now quite comfortably move about; :Td; see the crippled children so equipped* hurrying from school to dinner is a revelation.. The children have their school with two teachers—one in l tho school room 1 for those able''.'to get about, and the, other a lady whe visits the children who cannot leave their beds. The arrangement works splendidly, and the children, with all their afflictions, are a happy band'afl round. Their treatment may be, and( often fa, protracted. To • straighten a- little twisted body, to open up a club foot, to remedy the worst deformities all take time. The process is.also expensive, as the apparatus required is elaborate and the whole' management must be expert to a degree. All the necessary staff and equipment ..already existed at Trentham, for the ioldier patients, and it was an inspiration on tho part of General MoGavin;'D.M.S., to place these advantages at the service of the poor, suffering children. It does not appear to be known what the number of so orippled children is in New Zealand, but the •nguresha England are given at four per thousand. In the Old Country a great deal 6*f tubercular disease among children is caused by infected milk from tubercular cows, an evil far less prevalent here—indeed, practically non-ex-istent, through the precautions ordered by the State. At the Bame time there have been epidemics of infantile paralysis, notably in 1916, and it is known that a large number of children have, suffered thereby. It ia quite certain: • that the work at Trentham does notj cover anything like all the cases need-; in? attention. '.There is a similar institution at Rotorua, and one in the South Island at Port Chalmers, and also another in Christchurch, under civil •supervision. This is, however, but the beginning of a great work for the welfare of children, whioh deserves 'every'support from the publio and the State. To make out of poor human fragments, as it were, useful citizens in the community is a noble service +o humanity, to whioh Colonel Caxbery and his staff may well be proud to devote their lives. And, in conclusion, so far as Trentham is concerned, it must be 3aid that the presence of the children has had a most beneficial influence on the eoldier-patients in taking them out of themselves in the contemplation of others'' troubles. To tho nurses it has added a new interest to their professional life.