MASSAGE—MECHANOTHERAPY
In every case of tic the physician ought to assure himself of the integrity of the muscles involved by examining for developmental anomalies, atrophies, hypertrophies, etc., the presence of which might lead him to reconsider his diagnosis. He may then order massage, of special value in tonic tics as a prelude to passive movements, or counsel the employment of some form of instrument or apparatus to correct muscular insufficiency or to gauge the extent and rapidity of motor reaction.
As a general rule we deprecate these devices. They are open to the same objections that have been raised to all the mechanical arrangements ever invented to counteract stammering, from the pebbles of Demosthenes to the fork of Itard, or Colombat's interdental plate, or Wutzer's glossonachon, or Morin's marbles: the patient is relieved of his infirmity only to become the slave of his instrument.