CHAPTER XV.
Osteopathic Treatment.
Five Points—Visceral List—Care in Treating the Spinal Column—Most Important Chapter—Perfect Drainage—A Natural Cure.
FIVE POINTS.
The five points of observation will cover easily the whole body, and we cannot omit any one of them, and successfully examine any disease of the system. Local injuries are, however, an exception to this rule, and even a local hurt often causes general effect. Suppose a fall should jar the lumbar vertebra, and push it at some articulation, front, back, or laterally; say the lumbar, with one or two short ribs turned down against the lumbar nerves with a prolapsed and loosened diaphragm, pressing heavily on the abdominal aorta, vena cava, and thoracic duct; have you not found cause to stop or derange the circulation of blood in arteries, veins, lymphatics and all other organs below diaphragm? Then heart trouble would be the natural result. Fibroid tumors, painful monthlies, constipation, diabetis, dyspepsia or any trouble of the system that could come from bad blood would be natural results, because lymph is too old to be pure when it enters the lungs for purifying. If blood or chyle is kept too long below the diaphragm, it becomes diseased before it reaches the lungs, and after renovation, but little good blood is left. Then the dead matter is separated from blood and blown out at the lungs while in vapor. Thus nutriment is not great enough to keep up normal supply. In this stage the patient is low in flesh and feeble generally, because of trouble with blood and chyle to pass normally through the diaphragm.
VISCERAL LIST.
The failure of free action of blood produces general debility, congestion, low types of fever, dropsy, constipation, tumefaction and on to the whole list of visceral of diseases.
From this we are called to the pelvis. If the innominate bones are twisted on sacrum or are driven too high or too low, an injury to the sacral system of blood and nerves would be cause equal to congestion, inflammation of womb or bladder-diseases, with a crippled condition of all the spinal nerves. This would be cause enough to produce hysteria, and on to the whole list of diseases to spinal injuries. The Osteopath has great demands for his powers of reason when he considers the relation of diseases generally to the pelvis; and this knowledge he must have before his work can be attended with success.
As I said, five points comprise the fields in which the Osteopath must search. I have given you quite pointedly and at length, hints on spine and sacrum which cover the territory below the diaphragm. In conclusion I will simply refer you to the chest, neck and brain, and say, "let your search light ever shine bright on the brain." On it we must depend for power. About all nerves do run through the neck and branch off to supply both above and below, to do their parts in animal life, to the heart, brain and sum total of man and beast. Search faithfully for cause of diseases in head, neck, chest, spine and pelvis; for all organs, limbs and parts are directly related to and depend on these five localities to which I have just called your attention.
With your knowledge of anatomy, I am sure you can practice and be successful, and should be in all cases over which Osteopathy is supposed to preside.