it may be brought down straight by dividing the bone near the upper
end. A stiff shoulder or elbow may be converted into a useful, movable
joint by excision of the articular ends of the bones.
A _stiff joint_ may remain as the result of long continued
inflammation; the unused muscles are wasted and the joint in
consequence looks large. Careful measurement, however, may show that
it is not materially larger than its fellow. And though all tenderness
may have passed away, and though the neighbouring skin is no longer
hot, still the joint remains stiff and useless. No progress being made
under the influence of massage, or of gentle exercises, the surgeon
may advise that the lingering adhesion be broken down under an
anaesthetic, after which the function of the joint may quickly return.
There are the cases over which the "bone-setter" secures his greatest
triumphs. A qualified practitioner may have been for months
judiciously treating an inflamed joint by rest, and then feels a
hesitation with regard to suddenly flexing the stiffened limb. The
"bone-setter," however, has no such qualms, and when the case passes
out of the hands of the perhaps over-careful surgeon, the unqualified
practitioner (because he, from a scientific point of view, knows
nothing) fears nothing, and, breaking down inflammatory adhesions,
sets the joint free. And his manipulations prove triumphantly
successful. But, knowing nothing and fearing nothing, he is apt to do
grievous harm in carrying out his rough treatment in other cases.
Malignant disease at the end of a bone (sarcoma), tuberculosis of a
joint, and a joint stiffened by old inflammation are to him the same
thing. "A small bone is out of place," or, "The bone is out of its
socket; it has never been put in," and a breaking down of everything
that resists his force is the result of the case being taken to him.
For the "bone-setter" has only one line of treatment. Of the
improvement which he often effects as if by magic the public are told
much. Of the cases over which the doctor has been too long devoting
skill and care, and which are set free by the "bone-setter," everybody
hears--and sometimes to the discomfiture of the medical man. But of
the cases in which irreparable damage follows his vigorous
manipulation nothing is said--of his rough usage of a tuberculous hip,
or of a sarcomatous shoulder-joint, and of the inevitable disaster and
disappointment, those most concerned are least inclined to talk! A
practical surgeon with common-sense has nothing to learn from the
"bone-setter."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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