The Hartford republican. (Hartford, Ky.) 18??-1926, 1909-09-24
HOW NOT To /" Help /"
SMALL CHILDREN.
Little Arms not made to serve
as Handles Nor as Hosting
Ropes.
"she was holding her by the hand

hSaPih6 HSA Oh inc SSoho'
when suddenly something snap
ped, said mother the 9TH
er day, explaining to a doctor how
her child's arm had been injured
while with the nursemaid. when the
doctor, after examination, found the
shoulder was dislocated, the mother
learned that the injury had been caus-
ed not by bad luck or fate. but
simply by the nurses thoughtlessness
and stupidity.
The mother or nurse who attempts
to use a baby's arm as a mechanical
attachment by which the whole body
can safely be lifted about is guilty
of cruelty as well as thoughtlessness
and stupidity.
The arm, admirably as it is has been
planned, is not meant for the purpose
and many severe physical injuries
can result from it's misuse
What many parents, and certainly
nurse maids do not understand is that
the shoulder, comprising bones. nerves
and arteries and tendons, is one of
the most complicated and easily injur-
ed portions of the body.
In close relation to the head of the
bone in the upper arm is a disturbing
office of all the nerves that go to
supply the arm. hand and fingers.
Nature has taken wonderful pre-
caution TO protect most of the nerves
OF the body from sthe risk of injury,
but in the region of the armpit, where
the nerves emerge from the bony box
of the trunk and begin their course
down the arm. this protection, ade-
quate in all normal positions, is use
less If the arm Is to be used as a
handle or lever.
The commonest gross injury is dis
location of the shoulder. The round
head of the upper arm bone is only
held in place by ligaments and thin
capuslar tissues, which in a young
child are not REINFORCED as they are
in grown people by fully developed
strong shoulder and upper arm mus
cles
| 1t Is unnecessary to emphasize the
serious consequences which are apt
to follow a shoulder disslocation. Be
sides excruciating pain and disable
ment of the limb at the time, the
joint, after one disslocation. some
times remains weak throughout life
no matter what precautions and treat
ment are taken. Any trivial, unaccus-
toned motion with the arm may tear
down the once injured capsule and out
comes the head of the bone once more
with the accompanying days or weeks
of disablement of the limb.
Other troubles not so easily recog-
nizable as dislocation may follow If
the arm is constantly misused in at
temps to "help" the child.
The cartilages about the head of
childs bones are very soft, and
may easily be pulled out of shape
not, perhaps. to the extent of caus-
ing an actual deformity at the time
but yet sufficiently to cause notice
able lack of symmetry of the shoulder
in later years when the bones have
| hardened.
When a child is lifted up by the
arm the head of the upper arm bone
presses directly on the great nerve
running down the arm toward the
elbow. The resulting pressure may NOT
be particularly painful at the time but
is very apt to lead to a weakness of
the wrist and hand which may persist
for years. Tiny portions of the del
icate nerve-network may even be torn
across. If this happens, the muscles
supplied by this nerve will waste, and
paralysis, depending in its extent on
the number of nerve fibers injured,
may gradually develop
Not only are the joint tissues and
the nerves apt to be injured when
the whole weight of the body is sus
pended from the arm, but the muscles
themselves may be seriously and pain
fully strained. afany mother ar nurse
whose habit It Is to help the baby
climb the stairs by pulling II along
after her as If the child were a bundle
and the delicately formed arm were
mere hosting rope, doubts this,
let her try to support her own weight
on one arm even for a moment by
hanging on to horizontal bar in
gymnasium. Sore and lame chest
muscles will next day prove to her
that the unframed arm is not suited
/ foY o..nk xuOrl<