The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1918-06-06
ARMY SURGEONS
REBUILD MANY
DEFECTIVE men
Wonderful Achievements in
Training Camps of Ma
tional Army Described.

district, in New York state. How the
home board came to accept him is
mystery, for he was 50 round Shout
dered that he looked like a hunch-
back, Had he arrived few months
earlier the camp examining board
would have sent him back post haste,
bat under the new ruling which per-
nitS the army to salvage from the
human stream called forth by the
draft much of the material that was
formerly stamped unfit he was &C
cepted, says a writer in the New
York Sun.
For several days he. drilled with
his company in the depot brigade. AT
least he tried to drill. But no amount
of exercise nor of coaxing of the drill
officer could get him to straighten up
and throw back his shoulders. To
make matters worse his feet went
bad and finally he could scarcely hob
BILE about. Then he was sent to the
base hospital, where he became a
patient in the new orthopedic depart
meut
Experts looksd over his bent form
and then went to work. They mas
.saged his back and even baked it
under an electric heater. They COM
PEELED him to undergo exercises until
he WINGED at the pain of muscles and
tendons put into play that had been
useless for years. The crooked spine
became supple. With a supreme eff
fort he could straighten his back
while in bed. When he sat up or
walked, however, he slouched into
hn oI6 efn chn
ture.
Its no use. can't do it, he
pleaded when a physical director told
him to straighten up and go through
a certain series of exercises. And,
apparently, he couldn't. But the ex-
perts Of this new department had
another card to play. They began to
teach him self-confdence. Before
another week end they had proven
to his own satisfaction that he could
straighten those shoulders.
To eliminate further detail it is
merely necessary to relate that he is
now ready to go back to his company
not for a camp job or even for the
new United States Guard, but as fit
for a first line unit. The orthopedic
experts actually have inverted that
hump on his back and have made it
bulge out his chest. He carries his
head erect, his shoulders thrown
back and walks with a confident,
easy stride, for they have strengthen
ed by special exercises the arches of
his feet and have given him special
shoes to correct any threatening
pedal defects.
Marvellous as has been the physical
change in the man, it can scarcely be
compared with his improved mental
condition He was inclined to be
dull, listless and careless. The
Strengthening of his body seems to
have given him a higher, brighter
outlook on life and there is a snappi-
ness even in his conversation that is
, impressive. The doctors have made
a better citizen as well as a good SOL
der.
The story of this young farmer is
one Of many cases in which really
wonderful results have been obtained
in this new branch Of the army hos
pital service. d, Camp Dix has been
made the experimental centre for
this science, which aims, figuratively
and actually, to put man on his
feet again."
The Orthopedic treatment does not,
however, as many at first suppose,
confne itself merely to correction of
foot defects. 1t covers the subject of
joints in any part of the body. A
rheumatic knee, stiff shoulder, a
dislodged vertebra all come under the
manifestations of this science. So
broad, in fact is the field covered,
that Lieut.-Co1. w. Cole Davis, COM
mandant of the base hospital, has al
lotted five wards for patients of the
orthopedic department, and already
they are nearly filed.
The work of the new department
is under the personal direction of
Capt. ROLAND Meisenbach of Buffalo,
one of the country's foremost ortho-
pedic surgeons. The manner in
which he has made the lame walk
and done other seeming miracles
among crippled men already has
convinced War Department Off
Gals that this branch of medical
science can be made one of the most
important factors in the general
scheme of rehabilitation of human
bodies. DR.. Meisenbach's chief as
H.
Pittsburgh.
Foot troubles, of course, send the
greatest number of patients to the
orthopedic wards. Some experts have
estimated that as high as 95 per cent.
of negroes and 40 per cent of whites
called in the draft have foot defects
of one kind or another, a considera-
BILE percentage of which are likely to
become acute under the stress of
continued marching.
A year ago the fiat footed recruit
was rejected for military service. To-
day he is accepted and eventually
course of treatment that it would be
almost impossible for him to procure
in civil life. One of the patients re-
Gently discharged as cured was the
son of a wealthy physician. who had
been unable to obtain for the boy the
very special treatment which he re-
ceived free here as one of Uncle Sans
soldier nephews.
So-ealied broken arches are built
up by massage, various prescribed ex-
ercises, development of self confidence
and last but not least the equipment
of the patient with shoes specially
built to overcome any pedal defects
from which he may be suffering. A
special cobbier's shop has been open
ed in the main ward. Former cob
bleFs among the patients sent to the
hospital are now doing the work and
incidentally are learning a special
branch of their trade that will enable