The Waterbury Democrat., 1931-10-17
BURsA, BURsA, WHO HAS A BURsA?

BURsA, BURSA, WHO HAS A BURSA? l New York Dye Works Inc, of Connecticut, writes monograph entitled. Doc Bradys Bur- sits vs Mine:"
 | am 37 years of age While playing base | ball two years ago I threw the ball with great l force and suffered a sharp pain in shoulder. This disappeared as quickly as 1t came There | after the pain returned momentarily whenever l 1 threw the ball hard One morning two months | later I awoke with pain in the shoulder which grew steadily worse, and after two days could | not raise my arm at all. Sleepless nights--doc- | tor tried strapping arm and shoulder and sling.
 No good. X-ray of shoulder showed bursa. Bone
 specialist referred me to throat specialist. Next | day my tonsils were removed in the old span | ish style Two weeks after that the shoulder | pain disappeared completely. Second reel. Time, 1931 This time the left shoulder. I dropped from horizontal bar with all my weight the wrists and experienced sudden pain in left shoulder. For five months | thereafter any use of that shoulder gave con- siderable pain. Pain occurred only when shoul- der moved in certain direction. So one day went and had X-ray made, and sure enough there was a bursa in that shoulder too. This time I had diathermy treatments recommend 1 ed by the X-ray specialist. have just finished my seventh diathermy treatment and 1t does NOT help. Swapping the shoulder only in- creased the pain, so I asked the doctor to re- 1 move the adhesive.
 Huh, my bursitis ran on for six months though never knew it was burstis-I thought l it was one thing or another. such as closed car
 neuritis, cervical rib, aortic aneurism, sarco- I | tor will do when he is feeling mean-and the
 diagnosis was not made until after my bursitis
 was completely cured. Mine was cured by | counter irritation, reckon. Anyway, the right | shoulder suddenly ceased troubling me when | sustained a fracture of the left shoulder. The , orthopedic man who made some X-ray nega- | lives of the injured shoulder made one of the l sound shoulder for comparison. and discovered | a calciied deposit in the subdeltoid (subacro- | mial) burSa
 Inflammation of this little pad is a common ] cause of lame painful shoulder. The bursa | is thin containing few drops of fluid. It
 is outside the shoulder joint and has com munication with the joint. Often such bursitis | is diagnosed brachial neuritis. In some cases | the pain is so severe that the patient is abso- | lutely disabled Whether bursitis is caused I solely by violence or by focal infection or by both is a moot question. In some cases there is
 no history of injury strain or of sudden on- set. Both men and women suner, and seden- | tary folk as much as athletic.
 l In most cases of subdeltoid bursitis a call
 careous deposit occurs in or about the bursa. and this appears in the X-ray film sometimes | apparently within a few days after the onset | of the trouble In many cases the shadow of
 the calcif1cation disappears as the pain and lameness clear up, but sometimes the deposit
 remains indefinitely long after the trouble has gone.
 | ing with such cases advocate surgical removal I of the bursa the best way to overcome the
 pain and avoid prolonged disability, especially | in chronic cases with repeated exacerbations of
 trouble Others have found more conservative
 physical therapy sufficient to relieve most cases | especially rest, manipulation of the shoulder
 under anesthesia passive movements, later &C., | tive exercises, and heat. Still others advocate
 diathermy treatment. At least diathermy treat
 ments should be tried for reasonable time be- fore surgery is resorted to-
 l QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS Asbestos Required
 What have you to say about travelling
 salesman who falls asleep while driving his
 car, or sitting in his chair or anywhere Several
 once found himself crashing through field
 almost upon wall of rock. (Mrs T. E. W) | Answer-I met the salesman, or his double, | in west Texas last spring. At that time was
 too dazed to say much but have said plenty
 since. It is crime for such person to drive
 a car. It is a crime for you to fail to notify | the license bureau of the mans dangerous con-
 dition, as you may realize when 1t is too late | to keep him all in one piece.
 | Morbid Information
 | The publicity given the infantile paralysis | epidemic has made our 15 year old daughter
 morbid and depressed, subject to fits of weep. | ing and sleeplessness. She has lost weight, has
 no appetite, and her face, always cheerful, has
 of withholding information as to the serious
 ness of the epidemic. She first manifested these | signs on receiving news that distant relative Of
 ours had slight attack of paralysis. (Mrs M. | TD
 | Answer--I do not believe the poliomyelitis
 ballyhoo would cause your daughters condi- | ton. She just happens to fix upon this as an
 obsession. You should have your physician ex-
 anime her and advise you about the proper
 management of her mental disturbance. do
 believe, though, that some of our health officers
 or health boards, called have dwet entirely
 too much upon the alleged epidemic and at
 that most of the advice they hand out to the
 public about the prevention of poiiomyelitis is
 sheer bunk. for they do not know enough about
 the nature or the method of infection of this
 disease to speak with any assurance about its | control"
 | Shaw Says New York Banker
 Some time ago you printed a letter from an
 Oregon man who evidently felt disappointed
 with diathermy treatment of his tOnslls. He
 had chosen a specialist recommended by some
 surgical equipment maker or dealer. want to
 report that my experience was quite different.
 received the treatment from the good Dr I- whom you recommended to me. In my
 case it has been an absolute success. My legs
 and arms are now my own again--before treat
 ment 1t was impossible for me to walk at times
 never would have taken the risk of the old
 time butcfery method of removing infected
 t0nsils. I wish to thank you heartily for your kindness in recommending this modern treat- nient and Dr - to me. (E. s. s.)