This is true of gymnastics even when practised by reputedly healthy people. By executing certain movements, they may develop disease and weaken certain organs, through ignorance of their abnormal condition.
In case gymnastics or breathing exercises are prescribed as part of a treatment they should be executed in strict accordance with the order of the attending hygienic-dietetic physician.
One of the great principles never to be overlooked in gymnastics is, that in order to have the desired effect they must be carried out with the greatest regularity.
As to massage, this requires knowledge of anatomy in general, and of the anatomy of the individual to be treated, in particular. Only in this way can the desired effect be produced on certain muscles and nerves, with the further consequence that their movements promote the correct and health-giving circulation of the blood. Here again the governing factor must be the prescription of the hygienic-dietetic physician who has studied the individual case and knows the effect he wishes to produce by means of massage, and how to procure the same.
Books on massage and its general practice without knowledge of the particular case, will really accomplish nothing.
ELECTRIC VIBRATORS
In certain cases, and where it is not a question of general massage, the patient will be able to apply massage for himself according to the physician's prescription.
In this connection he will find an electric vibrator of valuable assistance. It will allow him to extend the area of the self-applied massage, but again, it will be useful only to the extent that it is carried out in strict accordance with instructions.
OXYGENATOR, RADIUM AND SALT BATHS (31, 32)
Since the discovery of radio-activity and the many effects which the presence of radium in certain waters and minerals produces on the human body, it has been the special task of research to find means of giving humanity in general the benefit of this important discovery.