The Dillon herald. [volume] (Dillon, S.C.) 1894-????, 1918-06-27
Round Shouldered Rookie Given
New Zest in Lite.
SEEMING MIRACLES ARE DONE
orthopedie Division At Camp Dix 10
Saving Many Men Otherwise Unfit
Crooked spines, Flat Feet and vari.
ous Joint Defects Arc Remedied--
Physical and Mental Wrecks Built
Up.


state. How the home board came to
accept him is a mystery, for he was
% round shouldered he looked like q
hunchback. Had he arrived few
months earlier the camp examining
board would have sent him back post
haste. but under the new ruling which
permits the army to salvage from this
huraen stream called forth by tho draft
much Of the material that was for
merly stamped unfit" he was &C
cepted.
For several days he drilled with his
company in the depot brigade At least
he tried to drill. but nothing could get
him to straighten up anG throw back
his shoulders. To make matters worse
his feet went "bad" and finally he
could scarcely hobble about. Then he
was sent to the base hospital where
he became . patient in the new ortho-
pedic department.
Experts Take Charge.
Experts looked over his bent form
and set to work. They massaged his
back, and even baked" 1t under an
electric heater. They compelled him
to undergo exercises until he WINGED
at the pain of muscles and tendons
which had been useless for years. The
crooked spine became supple. With
supreme effort he could straighten
sat up or walked he slouched in the
same old stoop-shouldered posture.
"Tt's no use. I can't do It," he
pleaded when a physical director told
him to straighten up and go through
the exercises, and apparently he could
not. But the experts Of this new de-
partment had still another card to
play. They began to teach him self
confidence, and in a week had proved
to his own satisfaction that he could
straighten those shoulders.
He is now fit. not for a camp job,
but for first line unit. The ortho-
pedic experts actually inverted the
hump on his back and made it bulge
out his chest. He carries his head
erect, his shoulders thrown back, and
he now walks with q confident, easy
stride, for they have strengthened the
arches Of his feet and have given him
special shoes to correct any threaten
ing defects.
Marvellous as has been the physical
change. it is surpassed by his improved
mental condition. He was inclined to
be dull, listless, and careless. The
STRENGTHENING of his body seems to
have given him n higher, brighter out
look on life, and there is snap even in
his conversation. The doctors have
made better citizen as we'll as good
soldier.
"Puts a Man On His Feet"
The story of this young farmer is
one Of many cases in which wonder
full results have been obtained in this
new branch Of the army hospital serv-
ice. Like many Of the other projects
planned for the new armies of the
United States, Camp Dix has been
made the experimental center for this
science, which aims to put man on
his feet again" The orthopedic treat
ment does not confine itself merely to
correction Of foot defects; it applies
to joints in any part of the body. A
rheumatic knee, stiff shoulder, a dis
lodged vertebra. all come under the
ministrations of this science; so broad
is the field covered that Lieut.. Col w.
Cole Davis, commandant of the base
hospital. has allotted five wards for
patients of the orthOpedic department,
and already they are filled.
The work of the new department Is
under the personal direction of Cap
tain ROLAND Meisenbach Of Buffalo,
and the manner in which he has made
the lame walk and performed other
seeming miracles has convinced war
department officials that this new sci
ence cah be made one of the most i'm
pOrtant factors in the general scheme
Of rehabilitation Of human bodies. DR..
Meisenhach's chief assistant is Lieu
tenant NJ. A. Blumer of Pittsburgh.
Experts have estimated that as
many as 90 per cent of negroes and 40
per cent Of whites called in the draft
have foot defects of one kind or an
other, and large number become
acute under the stress of continued
marching. A year ago the fiat
footed" recruit was rejected. Today
he is accepted. and eventually lands
in the OrthOpedic hospital for q course
of treatment that it would be almost
impossible for him TO get in civil life.
One of the patients most recently dis
charged as cured was the son Of u
wealthy phyS.ci;:.i. who had been IN
able to obtain for his boy the special
treatment which he received free here.
Build Up "Broken" Arches.
SO-called broken arches are built up
by massage, various prescribed exer-
ciseS, develOrrcnt of Self-confidence