Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1902-10-30

must be cushioned, too, and adjusted
so that it will not be a source of dis
comfort to the patient.
Il believe it my duty to alleviate
all the suffering l can, whether among
the rich or poor. If the rich pay a
princely fee it will allow me to devote
more time to the poor"
| DR.. LorenZ is just As years old. He
looks to be 60. Probably his appear
ance Of being advanced in age is due
to the fact that during his youth he
underwent the keenest privations in
order to follow the study of medicine.
4 have known what it is to want
bed and breakfast" he said.
DR.. Lorenz left for San Francisco,
Just to see the country and to see a
patient or two" he said. Il will be in
New York Nov Is and home on Christ
mas" He will conduct nine clinics in
New York city.
| One day Prof. LorenZ appeared in a
clinic at the Northwestern University
before a big assemblage of students
and physicians. He encountered a
most difficult case in Miss E. Hofen-
ritz, aged twenty, who suffered from a
badly dislocated leg covered by paral-
ysis The limb was permanently bent,
and the muscles we're in a condition of
contraction. After the woman was put
! under anaesthetics a wise was attached
! to the limb and a lever turned until
| the limb was righted. There was fur
| Their manipulation and the limb was
placed in plaster cast. The ankle
! tached by the knife, owing to strong
| development. The foot was straight
ened. Seven children were among
| those treated, but only two were op-
| Grated upon.
| When J. Ogden Armour brought
! Prof. Lorenz to Chicago and paid him
| and his assistant, DR.. Mueller. a fee of
| $3.50 600 for treating his little daugh-
ter, he did not dream of the good he
and his money were to do. Twenty
other tots whom unkind nature had
sent into the world with dislocated
joints appealed to the surgeon. They
had no money and little hope. In three
clinics he Strengthened the deformed
limbs of these twenty children. If he
had received fees for these twenty op-
eratiOns similar to that which Mr.. Ar
mOur gladly paid he would have taken
So 600, 900, or the comfortable sum of
! So $50, 600 for the week. The largest
cIinic-and it was the largest ever
held in Chicago-was in the amphi-
Of FOL
were 1000 physicians, students, sur
geons and medical authorities present.
Many Of the physicians came from
towns hundreds Of miles away.
Il never appeared before so large a
clinic" said Prof. Lorenz when the
last patient had been wheeled out.
I'VE are poor in Austria and do not
have such great ampitheaters. Every
thing is so vast in America-so large"
The proportion of females in con-
genital hip disIocations has been esti-
mated at 80 per cent Of the twenty
| operated upon, sixteen were girls.
In action Prof. Lorenz is rapid and
shows evidence of great strength,
which he needs in his operations He
came into the amphitheater carrying
his first little patient in his arms.
After showing the peculiar walk which
these patients have, he spoke a few
words about the technique Of his oper-
ton, while the child was being anaes-
thetized.
His technique of reduction has sew
eral distinct steps. If the dislocation
| is complete-that is, if the head Of the
femur is entirely out OF the cavity
he grasps the child's ankle and pulls
down in the long axis of the body.
This serves to bring the head of the
femur approximately opposite its nor
nal resting place, as the weight Of the
child in walking always drives the
bone upward. The child is then firm
ly held by an assistant and the knee
is bent out as far as possible from the
body While it is held in this posi-
ton the muscles which pull the leg in
toward the body, and which have be-
come permanently shortened by years
of false position, are fairly rubbed off
their attachment to the femur by deep
massage. The muscles on the back of
the leg are freed and heightened in
similar manner by tOrcible overeXten-
sion Of the knee joint.
The joint is now loose and the actu-
al placing Of the head Of the bone in
position seems easy enough. After the
! femur is in position the anterior part
| Of the joint capsule is heightened by
using the head of the bone as a
| wedge,
The leg is now put in plaster cast,
| where it remains immobilized for six
! months or more. Its position is at
right angles to the body, with the
| knee bent. At the end of two weeks a
Ions heel is provided for the child and
! it is allowed to walk. Every step
taken drives the bone more firmly into
position.
The actual manipulation necessary
| to reduction averaged about four min
utes, and in several instances the click
of the bone going into place could be
! plainly heard. The most difficult case
was a patient eleven years old. The
manipulations necessary in this case
| were extreme, and Prof. Lorenz said
that though normally the elasticity of
the great blood vessels near the hip
Joint saved them from injury, in some
cases, such as the last one, they were
in great danger, and if broken would