Manual of Surgery Volume Second: Extremities—Head—Neck. Sixth Edition.Thomson, Alexis
Science
Manual of Surgery Volume Second: Extremities—Head—Neck. Sixth Edition.
Thomson, Alexis
Surgery
be performed a definite number of times at regular intervals, but
should not be pushed so as to cause pain or fatigue. The patient
should be fitted with well-made lacing boots, with the heel and sole
raised about half an inch on the medial side so that the foot rests
mainly on its lateral border. The additional leather, which can be
applied by any bootmaker, is in the form of a wedge, with its base to
the medial side, one on the sole and one on the heel. The wedge fades
away towards the lateral border, and also forwards towards the tip. In
time, the limbs are further strengthened by sea-bathing, cycling,
skipping, and other exercises.
In _cases of the second degree_, the patient should be provided with a
metal plate inside the boot. That known as Whitman's spring is the
most popular. A plaster cast is taken of the sole while the foot is
held in its proper position, and on this a metal plate, preferably of
aluminium bronze, is modelled. This is covered with leather and
inserted into the boot. We have found the supports devised by Scholl
simple and efficient. The treatment described for cases of the first
degree is carried out in addition.
In _cases of the third degree_, the deformity is corrected under an
anæsthetic. The foot is forcibly moved in all directions so as to
stretch the shortened ligaments and to break down adhesions, it is
then rotated into an extreme varus position, and fixed in
plaster-of-Paris or to a Dupuytren's splint. It may be necessary to
have recourse to the Thomas' wrench, employed in the correction of
club-foot. When the reaction consequent upon this procedure has
subsided, the question of shortening or of reinforcing the tendons
concerned in the support of the arch of the foot may be considered;
one of the peronei, for example, may be attached to the tubercle of
the navicular. We have not found it necessary to employ this
procedure.
In _cases of the fourth degree_, in which the displacement and
alterations in shape of the bones constitute an insuperable bar to
correction, operative treatment may be considered, either resection of
a wedge including the talo-navicular joint or forward displacement of
the tuberosity of the calcaneus.
#Spasmodic Flat-foot.#--There are cases of flat-foot in which pain and
spasm of the peronei muscles are the predominant features. If the
spasm is not allayed by rest in bed and hot fomentations, the foot
should be inverted under an anæsthetic; and in this position it is
encased in plaster-of-Paris. Jones resects an inch of each of the
peroneal tendons about 2-1/2 inches above the tip of the lateral
malleolus; Armour and Dunn claim to have obtained better results from
crushing the peroneal nerve in the substance of the peroneus longus.
#Paralytic Flat-foot# (Fig. 155).--In typical cases this results from
poliomyelitis affecting the tibial muscles. When other groups of
muscles are affected at the same time, compound deformities, such as
pes calcaneo-valgus, are more likely to result.
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