Robert L. Dickinson

“ In other words, in normal individuals the pressure from above meets opposition and accommodation and a balance is established. The corset can harm strong women little, weak women much.
Whether intra-pelvic pressure can be lowered by any so-called lifting action applied to the lower abdomen seems to me doubtful, and no such condition has been found in these tests. A better corset substituted for a vicious one, with bettered posture, lessens intra-pelvic pressure. ”

“ SUMMARY OF ORDINARY OFFICE TESTS, AND DIRECTIONS TO PATIENTS. Posture.—The patient stands on a mark on the floor, sideways to a paper on the wall, and shoulder-blade and buttock are in­dicated on the paper. The difference in these two points, with the corset and without, shows in a moment whether the corset affects the posture favorably or unfavorably and correction is required. Pressure.—The hand passed within the corset, together with a note of the distance between the steels as they spring open, give the location of pressure—whether down-thrusting or lifting—and its degree. ”

“ Where a new corset of special fit and shape is needed, most com­monly such can be found in a large ready-made stock, the altera­tions made when buying—say for from $3 to $6—from a cor­setiére who has been taught to understand medical needs. Corsets made to order expertly by those trained to our ideas are to be had for $12, while corsets of the most durable material, least likely to alter in shape, run up to $25 from expert hands. Often with the well-to-do one may elect to begin with a cheaper fitted corset, in order to bring about the desired result by degrees. ”

“ The practical application of this study is that, with a certain flexibility in our ideas, without straight-lacing facts to fit a theory, without attempting to girdle within one general rule all the variety of conditions, and with the expectation of failures at first, the practitioner may secure a number of excellent results, particularly in cases of displacement and defective posture. ”

“ Curiously, too, when abdominal walls are firm, either by reason of strong muscle or dense adipose, the intra­pelvic pressures seem increased nearly equally as between a fairly loose and very tight corset. ”

“ In noting pressures, in office work, manometer readings are needed only for research or to convince the skeptical—though to one's manometer hung on a wall the attachment of an extra under-corset-testing-bag by a T connection is a small matter. In practice, the test of the hand run down inside the corset suffices. The ribs first. Have they decently easy play? Is the epigastrium practically without pressure? Is the pressure in the umbilical region moderate—somewhat more than a man's summer belt? Is the suprapubic pressure more than the umbil­ical? It must be greater. ”

“ A second patient comes in. She is round shouldered; her viscera sags and she has constant backache. She brings, to be tested before wearing, the new corset we prescribed. Her posture without the corset is noted by the method given above. She puts on the corset according to the instructions of the corsetiére or the office nurse, fastens the garters and drapes the sheet, and stands against the wall again. At once it is evident that the shoulders have gone backward, the hips forward, the whole center of gravity backward. ”

“ Comparison of the girth over the corset with that measured around the undershirt is worthless as an index of constriction. Interior tests showed little effect on increase in vaginal pressures in corseted women whose abdominal walls and pelvic floor were firm, but they indicate a marked rise in intrapelvic pressure from exertion in corseted women whose muscles are flabby and interior supports relaxed. The tight corset harms vigorous women little, weaker women greatly. ”

“ Pressure should be greatest around the hips, carefully and snugly adjusted, diminishing above this zone, being less at the waist line than below the waist. The lower ribs must have play. With regard to posture or carriage the shoulders must not be thrown forward and hips backward, the comparison being made first in undershirt and then after corset is put on. Large or
relaxed breasts are to be supported independently, from the shoulders. Front or back lacing has to be chosen for the par­ticular case. ”

“ Their aim should not be wholly to make a corset that reduces the size of the waist. They should study to provide corsets adapted to different types of individuals that do not unduly compress and restrain, that neither fatigue nor grievously deform. ”

“ One occasionally finds a "weak back" that sways and that cannot be steadied until a course of muscular exercise has been taken (Fig. 41.) · It would appear that while the normal posture may call for a line from the back of the buttocks to the back of the shoulders with the shoulders not more than an inch in front of the perpen­dicular, yet a few women are found whose scapular line is three inches anterior to the curve of the nates and who show neither ache, nor rigidity of back muscles nor of gastrocnemius. ”

“ When taken off, laces must be loosened. When front lacing permits, women with large or relaxed abdomens should put on the corset while lying on the back, raising the body on the heels to send the organs upward. ”

“ Third, an opportunism that does the best it can, insistently remonstrant in harmful cases, wasting no time on neutral cases, and taking one's small part in the slow campaign of education looking toward developed habits of exercise, appreciation of normal body forms, and true taste in dress. ”

“ Is there present a type of body, of abdominal support, of c displacement, to be much affected by pressure or In the ordinary routine observation of the corset of a patient suffering from pelvic or abdominal disorder, the time required is five minutes, and the outlay a few cents. Two clips to hold a
FIG. 31.—Pressure measurements. An aneroid (sphygmomanometer) hanging on the wall, is connected by tubing with a bag that is slipped under the corset. sheet of wrapping paper against a wall, and a mark on the floor, suffice. Manila paper in rolls runs 2 feet wide. ”

“ FIGS. 26, 27.—Compression of fat by corsets (Kraus) . tively demand adjustment toward the perpendicular provided the shoulders and chin are well held up, and no pain or spasm is present. Here one treads warily, however, since it is outside of one's province.
Unlike Dr. Reynolds, I call no corset good. For the purpose of altering an attitude a well devised appliance may be "good," but no body prison for healthy persons can be called beneficent, any more than that other restriction of our civilization, city life, can be called wholesome. ”

“ See also Figs. 4 and 6. neutral, showing equal pressure at the level of the navel and above the pubes. Only one-fifteenth, and these for the most part costly, made-to-order corsets, showed conditions other than waist constriction, or with the lower zones showing the higher pressures. One-third of the patients showed a relatively low pressure throughout—nearly all of these being thin women. The spring of the corset in loosening the steels was three inches and over in about one-third of the cases. ”

“ In the long years it will care for itself. First, there will be developed in the race habits of vigorous exercise which will make FIGS. 52, 53, 54.—The three types of corset, hourglass, straight, abdominal. Vicious pressures compared with tolerable pressures; harmful forms vs. neutral; bad posture or good; pelvic inclination inviting displacement as against tilt which saves from pressures. ”

“ This is one of the many medical problems that call for team work. Corsetiéres, women, and doctors must work together. Corsetmakers and retailers should have more knowledge of anatomy and more respect for physiology. ”

“ Note the trunk atrophy as compared with the Venus de Medici. out the patient is directed to get a small diary and bring it at each visit to exhibit the entries, just as some sluggish gravid woman of the late months must show her pedometer at specified intervals. Because exercises grow deadly dull, I have had a certain suc­cess with the medicine ball to develop trunk muscles. Reso­lution lasts longer when brother or husband takes an interest. When $3.50 is deemed too much outlay, a good substitute is found in a bag in which four pounds of oats is sewed. ”

“ There is no perfect compromise. Like the Greeks, we are driven to admit that faultless form and decorative dress are for the poses and pur­poses of leisure, and arduous work and active play demand loose and less comely c1othing. ”