Treatment.
—Viewed in this light it will be seen that there is the greatest value attaching to physiological rest, beginning immediately after the injury and continuing until the subsidence of the symptoms. This should be combined with measures which improve elimination and nutrition. Confinement to bed or the room will reduce elimination, which should never be allowed to decrease in any way. Bodily and mental rest, combined with the above features, followed later by massage, cold spinal douche, electricity (either for its actual or suggestive value), and mental encouragement, constitute the principal methods of treatment. A case of this kind tinctured by a hope of securement of ultimate damages will be not only resistant but difficult of successful treatment.
INJURIES TO THE SPINE.
The principal injuries to the spine proper to be considered here consist of:
- 1. Fractures;
- 2. Dislocations, or their occurrence together;
- 3. Injuries to the cord and spinal column;
- 4. Rupture or injury of the muscles, ligaments, and aponeuroses.
FRACTURES OF THE SPINE.
Fig. 413
Fracture of body of the vertebra. (Warren Museum.)
Fig. 414