Honolulu star-bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1912-2010, 1914-11-07

Mrs. Ferguson. Mr. Charles Norton and
| others. During his examination the
pain was absolutely sickening. Nv
| neck at this time vas absolutely rigid
and | could not move il either to the
side, forward or backward. While
stretched cut on the lounge DR.. Barnes
gave my neck 4 heavy wrench-as
near as remember. 1t was to the side
and then TO the back-and for the
first time since the accident, several
hours previous, | was able to turn my
head. arose from the lounge unas-
sisted and retired shortly afterWard.
| had then and continued to have free
and unrestricted use OF my head and
neck. but each morning thereafter
there was eXcruCiating pains in my
heck on arising. These pains would
leave in an hour or so after arising
There was never any swelling after
the first day and these peculiar morn
ing pains lasted 5ut few days Not
being familiar with the physical con-
struction of the neck ! am not in a
position to say as to the exact nature
of NY injury. but ] do remember dis
tinctly that when DR. Barnes wrench
ed my neck felt distinct snap about
three inches below the ear, and from
then on | have had free use of my
neck and no trouble, with the excep-I
ton of the aforesaid morning pains.
II received but one treatment from
DR.. Barnes, which did not take, in all,
over 20 minutes.
(Signedl "SAMUEL w. ROBLEY."
Y. NJ. C. A., Honolulu.
1t is a plain enough story. But to
make it palmer, have drawn a few
pictures. These represent the position
in which Mr.. Robley's dislocated YER
zebra was before and after the acct
aent. =.
Now, if you will look closely at the
pictures of the yertebra you will no.
tice that little shoulder of bone OBJ
iuts up from one yertebra to the other.
1t fits into a sort Of socket. in which
there is plenty ut free play AS the
neck turns, or twists, the bone moves
easily in the socket, backward or for.
ward, up or down. But, if it so hap
pens. as it did in Mr.. Robley's case,
that the neck is pulled or jammed too
violently in one direction the bone
will be pulled out of the socket so far
that it will rest on the edge of it, as
shown in the third OF the vertebral
drawings. -.
This, of course. locks the neck sol
that it cannot move, just as happens |
when any piece of ordinary machinery |
does another thing, which can be uni
derstood by noting that the window
(C) is the opening between each pair |
of Vertebra through which a nerve
energies from the spinal cord.
Now. when the bone was pulled so
tar out that it stuck on the edge Of
the socket, it rested exactly on this |
nerve. And, as the nerve Is the con-
neetion between tae spinal cord and
the rest of the body, the natural con-
sequence, If the disloeation had not
been rectified. would have been to in
6uce paralysis. ! 49, 4
When Mr.. Robley did me the honor
to apply to me for treatment after his
unfortunate accident, realized that
his condition was gist such as / have
here described The problem, there
fore, was to try tosget the little bone
back into its socket To do this I had +
to lift up the head, Upon which he had
fallen, give it sharp twist with pres
sure on the dislocated bone, and set
It. .=t- 2. {if.--%.~ 80 fts@= ,s.+.E
There was nothing mysterious about I
the matter. The only thing was to
realize just what d dislocation of the
neck means and to- proceed to use
Teans which have long been known to
all osteopathic physicians to rectffy
1t. But the singular thing is that, in
spite of the simplicity of such cases,
it has long been doubtful, if not en-
tirely and utterly unlikely, that man
could recover at all when once he has
had an accident Of this character.
Some of the doubt that has been L
maintained as to the possibility of q q
man recovering from q dislocation of
the neck has been due. probably, to a
confusion between dislocations and
actual fracture Had Mr. Robley act
ually broken one of the vertebra. in
stead OF merely dislocating the little
bone projection indicated in the draw
ings, it would not have been so simple
q matter to lift the injured part and
put 1t back in place, although, under
some circumstances, even this can be
done. Had hs merely sprained rath-
er than dislocated the neck there
would have been. Of course. no dis
placement and consequently nothing
to replace; but there would have been
an acute soreness incident to the
wrench and the patient might have
suffered for some time before the nat.
ural conditions could he completely
restored.
There are some physicians who con-
tend that there is 40 such thing as
dislocation of the neck without paraly-
sis. but j think they do a great deal of
Injustice to injured persons BY so be,
ieVing They claim that anything APP
preaching a dislocation VIII cause par
alysis, thus rendering treatment use
less But there are abundant cases.
with which 1t is unnecessary to bur
len the readers attention. to attest
he nny1frarv This -,ci,,Srxe{f,,t ~ 4baf