" Painless " Surgeons' Latest Triumphs.

Otago Witness, Issue 2892, 11 August 1909, Page 76

" Painless " Surgeons' Latest Triumphs.

—Curious Contrivances to Cure Cripples. — The "■painless" surgery of the Americans claims to have made yet another triumph which has raised a, new hope in the breasts of many cripples hitherto thought to be incurable. It is confidently maintained on the other tide of the Atlantic that 6ueh terrible and disfiguring formations as club foot, curvature of the spine, and crooked jc'nts can be cured in a painl-sss method without the use of the knife at all. Perhaps no branch of medicine can boast of greater advancement in recent years than than of orthapsedic science. Orthopaedics, it may be explained, i 6 that particular branch of medicine which deals with the deformities of the- bony system of~T^ie human body, whether this condition exists at birth or is contracted afterward 1 by disease or accident. Some most rpma^kable cures are said to have been made lately at the laboratory of a New York physician. One of these was of h little gin suffering with curvature of the spine, another was a hoy who had a douMe joint at the ankle of hi* right foot. —A Broken Ankle. — This last case was especially difficult to deal with because the boy had been experimented upon by Ksveral physicians His ankle had cnoe been broken and re=ct n the hope that it cduld be ma<le to grow together straight and naturally. The foot rerna-'ned worse than before. In this cond'tion the doctor set to woik on the boy. The lad could walk only by the use of crutches. A peculiar brace was put upon his leg. From day to day it wa6 tightened by means of a screw. Little by little the joint and the whole lower leg was straightened. -The process was so gradual that there was no pain and no straining of bones or muscles. In two months the joint and leg were perfectly straight. After wearing the brace seven months the distortion had entirely disappeared, a solid callous had formed, and the boy had free use of the limb. In the meantime he had been instructed to go about its much as possible, first with crutches, then with a cane, and finally without any assistance. Another serious case which ha= lately been uudsr treatment bj a similai method

■ is that of the girl with curvature of the • spine. She had undergone every known, form of treatment for the correction of this i deformity, but without apparent effect, ex- \ oept to weaken and distress her. ! After wearing the new apparatus for 11 months it was removed. The curvature was entirely overcome, and the girl was left in a perfectly normal condition, as if she had never been afflicted with a deformity — An Orthopaedic Corset. — For this class of cases the surgeons have devieed what is called an orthopaedic corset. By the peculiarity of its construction and by the arrangement of springs and pads, a constant pressure is exerted on the parts to be corrected, and: the spine is slowly but surely brought back to its normal and correct position. Another very useful appliance devised is a leg brace, extending from the hip down, to be applied in' cases of partial ,' paralysis, ftill another apparatus acts as a sort of artificial knee, supporting the weight of the body on the tipper leg and calf without any strain on the actual knee joint. These surgical appliances are made in a ; peculiar way. When a patient is sent by a doctor a me del is made of the deformity i in either v/ood or plaster of paris. E'-ther ; one of these operations requires considerable skill and experience in modelling. When corrected and finished tihese models are an exact counterpart of the deformed limb or body. The desired appliance 's < then " built " upon the model. In thi9 i way the work can proceed leisurely and { with all the painstaking cere that the case ' requires in a manner that could' not be ' done on the living subject. ! The finished! apparatus is then applied to | the patient, and periodically corrected, ; until, after a lapse of time, the deformity I is eradicated and the treated part has as- ' sumed it 6 normal condition, and is fit for j the performance of its normal functions. ] Patients may thus remain under the ; medical care of Ihe regular family physician ' or the hospital that first took the case, j By the use of such devices the inventors . declare it has become possible to either ' entirely overcome most deformities, or, j where this is impossible, to at least pro- • duoe such pronounced relief as to almost i border on the incredible.