The Omaha guide., 1946-11-23
Polio Called
Jekyn-Hyde
Foe of Man
BY EFFIE ALLEY,
Noted Woman Journalist.

the generations of hardWorklng doc
tors and research men who studied
it, only one side of its personality.
1t posed-and posed successfully
as a disease which worked on the
spinal cord and on that alone.
AS such, it was invu'nerable. II
could not be attacked. No real treat
ment was possible.
And none would be possible today
had not the keen eyes of Sister
Elizabeth Kenny, intrepid Austria
Ian nurse, surprised this killer and
crippler in another guise.
Found at Work
She discovered it al work-not in
the spinal cord. where it was mac
cessible-but in the muscles, where
it could be fought and routed.
This in is the whole diff.
ference between the old, orthodox
idea Of polio and the newer. hope.
full concept Of Sister Elizabeth
Kenny.
Medical scientists studying the
disease in the usual way. by micro.
scopic examination of dead tissue,
saw disintegrated motor nerve cells
and diagnosed paralysis.
Sister Kenny, the woman and the
Nurse who worked with living, sui.
fering patients, quite naturally saw
something else. She saw tender,
painful, knotted muscles and dag
nosed muscle spasm.
Both, of course, were right, fol
infantile paralysis is the disease
with a double identity.
The only trouble was that mos
doctors, knowing so well what took
place in the spine, believed that
everything took place there. No
knowing that the muscles we're sick
in and of themselves, they failed tt
treat them in the acute stage anc
hence got a great deal more
paralysis among their patients thar
there was any need for.
Prove Theory
It has since been confirmed BY
many inquiries attested by the Ma,
tional Foundation for Infantile
Paralysis that true paralysis occurs
at the maximum in only about q
per cent Of the badly affected cases
All the rest-pseudo-paralysis, de
formity, muscle weakness-is due
to muscle SpaSm.
Doctors were amazed at this idea
and yet, seeing Sister Kenny re,
store function to muscles they hac
been sure were paralyzed, many
were convinced the Australian
nurse had something" Bearing
witness to this, DR.. Alfred Deacon
of Canada, said:
Kenny restore what we had record.
ed as completely paralyzed and
faced muscles to full function
The significance of Sister Kenny
work has been attested by the many
honorary degrees bestowed on hel
by institutions of learning.
The University of Rochester, by
means of delicate electrical instru
ments proved in the laboratory
that muscle spasm does exist anc
that nerve impulses continue tc
reach muscles which are apparent
ly paralyzed.
AS a result, the University con
ferred on Sister Kenny the degree
of Doctor of Science. Other honors
followed, New York University Civ
ing her the degree of Doctor o.
Humane Letters and Rutgers Uni
versity, a similar honor. More thar
20 scientific and medical societie:
have singled her out for special dis
tinction.
Practical Aid
The great value Of her discovery
Of muscle spasm is in its practi
cality. 1t gives a basis for treat
ment. 1t points out the spot where
the greatest crippler of all time car
be reached.
But more than this, it shows how
the old treatment based on the ole
concept of polio as merely a disease
of the spine. had encouraged Grip
ping and deformity. For Sister
Kenny and others have proved tina
if muscle spasm is not relieved i
will persist for years, shortening
and hardening muscle ibers per
manently, drawing them up unit
eventually they distort the Skeleton
itself and deny movement ever t
the joints.
Doctors had known with wha
tragic regularity such things as thiI
occurred as the aftermath of polio
They tried to prevent it by splint
ing, and when that failed, they trieC
to correct the deformities by sur
gerry. But it was not until Sistel
Kenny came along with her con
cept of muscle spasm that the.
realized these shortened and con
tracted muscles were sick and need
ing treatment.
Unhealthy Muscles
She has demonstrated that mus
cles which all medical science hat
considered strong and health.
WERE, in reality, very sick. Muscle!
which had been thought paralyzec
were, in fact, normal.
Thus sick muscles had been neg
lected and woefully mishandled
forced into rigid casts where theil
spasm could only increase until
caused fixed deformities.
Normal muscles had been mis-
takenly treated as paralyzed anc
in the process often rendered SO
For these apparently paralyzec
muscles are usually opposite t
muscles in spasm and do not regain
their function until spasm has beer
relieved. Through the old treatmen
Of splinting, they were forced init
inaction until pseudoparalysis be
came real, merely through atrophl
and disuse.