Peninsula enterprise. [volume] (Accomac, Va.) 1881-1965, 1897-02-13
WALKING ON BROKEN LEGS.
Astonishing Results of Now Process Il


tEoAJ'
That a man who is unlucky enough
to fall and break Il leg doesn t any longer
have to spend weeks imprisoned in bed
waiting for the fractured limb to mend,
nut may be up and about sometimes
within "a hours after the accident was
made plain to the doctors assembled in
the surgical section of tho Academy Of
Medicine in West Forty-third street. A
workman who had fallen off scaffold
fortnight before walked about the
room without the aid of crutches and
with only the slightest perceptiblo limp,
although his left leg, which had been
broken, was Still done up i'll plaster of
paris.
He was one of two patients introduced
to the surgeons rs visible proof OF the
efficacy of the ambulatory system of set
ting broken legs, which system was
presented us vast advance Oh the old
method of treating such fractures by
keeping the unfortunate victim i'll bed
until the fractured bones reunited. The
subject of the up to date treatment was
presented in IL paper by Dr. j. p. Fiske
of the staff of attending physicians of
Roosevelt hospital. He gave the result
of 25O operations i'll which tho ambu-
1atory splint had been used successfully
in the hospitals Tho problem that con-
fronted the surgeon in such cases, he
said, was to get injured patients up and
about their business just as soon as pos
sible, and by the new method fiattering
results had been attained, particularly
in the case of disabled professional men.
It's efficacy in the case of laboring men
was only little less apparent. In tho
nature of their occupation the full use
of fractured limbs was not so readily at
Gained. If the injury was treated
promptly, the recovery was very rapid,
excepting i'll the case of alcoholic pa-
ticnts, i'll which the danger Of dclirium
tremens setting III after the fracture was
the obstacle. In healthy persons, male
or female, the method had secured adj
mirablc results.
The amhnlatory system has beer i'll
use III Berlin for so,:lc t..ac. 1t is quite
simple. In thc-cayc Ct the fracture of
either of the Eenes CT t!,e lo"or leg tie
patient is placed i'll arcci.aib. ii position
and the injured hc;ic:; re 50; in place
aud bound securely with an ordinary
muslin roller banG"gc. No cotton what
ever is used in t,c l;nding. Outside OF
this roller Il plaster of paris g:uzc band
age is wound. This harl!ens ard leaves
the limb incascd i'll plaster cast, which
generally extends from the toe tip to the
knee joint. 1t holds the broken parts of
the limb immovable and h;lrclcns rapid
". The best quality Of cast and bandage
is always employed, and the patient is
encouraged 10 walk without crutchcs
after "a hours. Cure is taken, of course,
to avoid Ill possibility of inflammation
setting in. The reason the patient can
walk so soon is that the weight of the
body is supported upon the upper part
of the ambulatory cast, which acts us 4
crutch.
DR.. Fiske cited case where patient
20 years old had been able to walk
within eight days after the application
of the ambulatory splint. The healing
If the bones goes on while the patient is
walking about just as if he were lying
down, rs the fractured limb is i'll 10 way
disturbed by the exercise. In fact, the re-
uniting of the fractured parts is has
tened, and the stiffness Of joints resulting
from the old method of keeping apatient
in bed and quiet is greatly reduced. With
in six weeks, often sooner, the bones will
have united, and then the limb is sub
iectcd 10 hot and cold douche baths and
to brisk massage to restore 1T to its nor
NAL condition. The average time the
ambulatory splint was Worn i'll the 250
cases quoted was from rs to 80 days,
and many of the patients were able to
go about much the same us usual during
this period.
DIR. John NJ. Woodbury. of Roosevelt
hospital said that III none of the cases
cited by DR. Fisle had any patient re-
turned to the hospital for treatment for
malformation of the limb. Even in the
case of serious double oblique fractures,
where the weight of the body is liable
to dislocate the set limb and drive the
bone through the flesh, the process had
worked successfully. This was impor-
tant from medico- legal standpoint, for
it protected the surgeon from the risk
of damage suits for faulty surgery
New York Sun.