The Ypsilanti daily press. (Ypsilanti, Mich.) 1928-1962, 1944-11-23

disorders prevails. But ten to one,
nobody in the average household
ever thinks of treating a cold by
hydrotherapy, which is the art of
treatment by water, and which in
most instances gives the most
prompt relief of any method of
treating a cold.
Hydrotherapy means TO most
some sort Of institute or establish
ment with elaborate and costly APP
paratus for giving needle showers
and playing water from hose on
the human form. But the average
American bath room is a very good
hydrcpsthic institute, and the
most valuable Interchangeable
procedures can be given right
there.
The same reluctances prevail
concerning massage. 1t will do
wonders that cannot be accom-
plished with any medicine, and yet
is constantly neglected. For most
people IL means a masseur and that
means expense. Well, we will grant
that a professional masseur does
the job better than anyone else,
but an old doctor ] used to know
spent his life crusading with the
slogan that massage was just rub
bling and anybody could make a
fair stab at il, and If nobody else
was around self-massage was pos
sible and very valuable method
of treatment.
Self Massage
He came Of an arthritic family
and had seen his father, uncle and
brother gradually become crippled
and almost bed ridden. When
symptoms began to show up in
himself he was practicing in a
small town where there was no
professional masseur, so he began
Systematically rubbing himself.
He gave all his muscles a good
going over at night when he got
into bed, kneading and rubbing and
slapping them, and then moving
his joints one after another. He at
least experienced great relief from
pain and muscular stiffness and
never became crippled as had the
other members of his family.
Nothing could ever have per-
suaded him that his escape was not
due to his self massage.
/ once saw a patient in consul
tation with him. The man had ex-
perienced attacks of pain in the
chest over the heart region few
years before and my self-massage
friend had taught him to rub the
muscles Of the chest whenever an
attack came on. He said he guessed
il was angina, but anyway the
massage seemed to alter the cir
culation and stopped the attacks.
Indeed it stopped them for several
years. We know so little about the
real mechanism of pain in angina
that / did not feel was in q posi-
ton to disagree with him. What
the patient had when l saw him
in consultation was something en-
tirely different from angina.
Amateur Massage Helpful
The professional masseur insists
that a knowledge Of anatomy is
essential for anyone who is going
to give scientific massage. would
be the last TO deny it, but ! think
too much emphasis can be put on
that. After all, it is effective most
ly over muscles and on the skin and
in passive movements Of joints
and everyone knows where they
are.
The professional masseur gives
very grand names to the different
movements he uses: eff1eurage,
petrissage and tapotement. But
effleurage is just stroking, SUPER
fetal and deep; and petrissage is
friction or kneading or pressing;
and tapotement is hacking and
clapping and beating.
Granted that the professional
masseur does them in a finished
way, still any member Of an intel
hgent family can learn to do them
on the ailing one who needs them.
And while / advise by all means
to use the best massage you can,
do not cut yourself off from this
valuable remedy just because the
expert is not available in your
community.
QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
C.K. F.:-What causes my eyes
20 be inhammed, sort of red, as II ]
4L.I