Mechanical movements properly applied to the affected limbs, or parts of the body, accomplish the same results as contraction of the muscles. They compress the capillaries and veins and thus force the blood on through these vessels towards the heart. There is a constant pressure in the arteries, hence the flow of blood in the capillaries is always towards the veins, and, when it gets into the veins, it is prevented from flowing back by the valves in those vessels.
A proper circulation of the blood through the disordered parts is thus effected, and, as the result, they receive an abundance of nutriment, and their waste products are promptly carried away to the excretory organs, by which they are separated from the body; the deposits of fatty matter between the muscular fibers are absorbed, and the agglutinated fibers are separated.
As proof of these statements, it has been found by experiment and observation that there is an increase of temperature in the parts subjected to this action, which must be due mainly to an increase in the chemico-vital changes that are superinduced by the nutritious elements of the arterial blood, particularly that element which is supplied to it by the inspired air, oxygen. All the products of waste are increased. The skin becomes more soft and moist, showing that the amount of matter eliminated by it is increased. The urine becomes more abundant, and the relative amount of urea, its most important constituent, becomes greatly increased. The amount of carbonic acid gas exhaled is increased, and further evidence in the same direction is furnished by the very marked increase in the inspiratory acts, necessitated by the increased demands for oxygen.
The local increase of the circulation incident to properly applied mechanical movements, must produce a corresponding diminution of blood in other, even in remote, regions of the body. Thus this treatment, by its revulsive effects, is capable of relieving various disorders of the head, chest, digestive organs, and pelvis. Nowhere, however, is the effect more satisfactory than in affections of the brain and spinal cord, whether characterized by loss of power, of sensation, or by neuralgic pain. Any portion of these nerve centres suffering from congestion, will find prompt relief in mechanical vibratory movements.
The Movement Cure which we advocate is not a "Swedish Movement Cure," nor anything akin to it. It is the application of remedial forces by complex structures, which combine a variety of mechanical powers. The inventions are solely American.
By means of this machinery, which is driven by steam power with great velocity, we are able to apply soft, pleasant, rapid vibrating movements over the surface of the body, and thereby increase the circulation of blood through the parts, raise the temperature, and excite pleasant sensations. The movements can be applied by our ingeniously-devised machinery to any part of the body through the clothing and without the least exposure of the person. They can be administered in a great variety of ways, by light, quiet persuasions, by gentle frictions, by rubbing, by oscillations, by kneadings, by circular movements, in fact, by an almost endless variety of reciprocating and alternating motions, which, if described, would convey to the mind of the reader but a faint conception of their remedial value.
Vibratory Motion not only establishes activity of the circulation through the skin and muscles, but it also affects profoundly the circulation in the important and vital organs of the body; it is thus capable of overcoming torpidity or congestion of the liver, spleen, and other deep-seated organs, without the depressing effects which sometimes follow the administration of powerful medicines.