But the continued use of a binder after the first day or two, while the patient is still in bed, is not as general as it formerly was. Many women ask for binders in the belief that they help to “get the figure back” to its original outline, and some doctors feel that the use of the binder is helpful in restoring the tone to the abdominal muscles, which amounts to about the same thing. Both the straight swathe and the Scultetus binder are used for this purpose and they are put on in the usual manner; snugly and with even pressure, but not tight enough to bind. Those doctors who disapprove of the binder believe that it interferes with involution and, by making pressure, tends to push the uterus back and cause a retro-position, in addition to retarding instead of promoting a return of normal tone to the abdominal muscles. Accordingly, they instruct their patients to take exercises, instead of wearing binders, and they have these exercises started while the patient is still in bed. Their adoption, and the rate at which they are increased, are entirely dependent upon the individual patient’s condition, for they must never be continued to the point of fatigue. There are, therefore, no definite rules laid down, concerning these exercises, beyond a description of the positions and movements themselves, and their sequence. Those which are taught to the patients at the Long Island College Hospital are so simple, and evidently productive of such happy results that they offer excellent examples of this form of treatment. They are, of course, taken only by the doctor’s order, but the nurse’s intelligent supervision increases their effectiveness. [Illustration: FIG. 129. Figs. 129 to 135, inclusive, are bed exercises taken during the puerperium. For description see text. (From photographs taken at The Long Island College Hospital.) ]