A Treatise on Fractures, Luxations, and Other Affections of the BonesDesault, P.-J. (Pierre-Joseph)
Science
A Treatise on Fractures, Luxations, and Other Affections of the Bones
Desault, P.-J. (Pierre-Joseph)
Dislocations; Fractures; Surgery
4. The assistants still continuing the extension, the surgeon places
the bolster between the arm and the trunk, taking care that the thick
end be uppermost, if the displacement be in an inward direction, but
lowermost, if it be in an outward one, as is most commonly the case
(7). The bolster is to be fastened at top by two pins to a cast of the
roller.
5. The arm is now pressed towards the trunk, and fixed against the
bolster, by means of the second roller. This roller is applied like
that which, in fractures of the clavicle, fastens down the arm to the
bolster, by the oblique turns _c. c._ (Fig. 3. plate I.), with this
difference, that in the present case, the turns ought to be very tight
below, and looser above, if the displacement be in an inward direction.
But, on the other hand, if it be outwardly, they must be loose below,
and tight above.
6. The fore-arm is now to be suspended in a sling, and the whole
apparatus afterwards surrounded by a piece of linen, which, by
protecting the casts of the roller from friction, prevents them from
being disturbed.
21. If we now compare the action of this apparatus with the indications
of cure formerly laid down (17), it will be easy to perceive, that, by
it, they are extremely well fulfilled. Indeed, the arm, being firmly
fixed against the trunk, cannot move, otherwise than by motions common
to it and the trunk, and nothing can derange the lower fragment, which
is equally immoveable. Nor can the shoulder communicate any motion
to the superior fragment. The bolster being differently disposed,
according to the direction in which the lower fragment is displaced,
will serve to move it in an opposite direction.
Should this fragment be forced inwards, the thick head of the bolster
will separate it to a distance from the thorax. It will be maintained
in this state of separation, by the casts of the roller, which, being
very tight below, will act on it as on a lever of the first kind,
of which the bolster, forms the fulcrum, while the resistance to be
overcome is the action of the latissimus dorsi, the pectoralis major
and the teres major. The casts of the roller, by pressing the elbow
to the body, will draw the fractured end of the bone in a contrary
direction; and, in this respect, the bandage may be considered as an
artificial muscle, forming a perfect antagonist to the natural ones.
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