Bandy-legs

“ All of them looked at Bandy-legs, and he could not deny the appeal he saw in the faces of his chums. It made considerable difference, too, now that the bright daylight surrounded them; for even a timid boy can feel brave between sunrise and sunset.
"I'm willing to hold on, if the rest do," he declared, "though it's pretty tough if I'm goin' to be the only one that's in danger of bein' chawed up by savage tomcats that roam about here. But, Max, if we go nosing around to-day, I want to keep close to you, and that bully little gun of yours, understand. ”

“ When the process is continued, in about two years the nerves of the parts implicated in the bandages have become deadened, and pain ceases, the muscles below the knee have shrunk for want of use, and the feet, the front parts of which have been completely destroyed or doubled under, are reduced to mere stumps, on which locomotion is about as easy as it would be if the legs from the knees downwards were made of wood. ”

“ As suddenly as if a knife had stopped the life inside the body, all sound stopped. A movement shook the man as he lay face down, arms stretched. Then for a minute, two minutes, he was quiet, with a quiet that meant muscles stretched, nerves alert. Slowly, slowly the tightened muscles of the arms pushed the shoulders backward and upward; the head lifted; the face turned outward, and if an observer had been there he might have seen by the glow of the firelight that the features wet, distorted, wore, more than all at this moment, a look of amazement. ”

“ But upon the joints it does not lessen, as there is nothing but cartilages and tendons. For these reasons children are small in the joints, and plump in the space between, as may be observed in their fingers, arms, and narrow shoulders. Men, on the contrary, are large and full in the joints, in the arms and legs; and where children have hollows, men are knotty and prominent.
[Pg 17]
Chap. XXXV.—Of the Joints of the Fingers.
The joints of the fingers appear larger on all sides when they bend; the more they bend the larger they appear. The contrary is the case when straight. ”

“ It has been thought that leg bandages were originally derived from the haybands which peasants wrap round their legs, and the writer has seen it stated that ostlers in this country still perpetuate the Anglo-Saxon fashion, though he has never met with [68] an actual instance. The pfiferari who some years ago used to play on bagpipes and other primitive instruments in our streets, wore leg bandages or loose linen stockings, and these were cross-gartered with bands which held in place a simple sandal made of a piece of leather. ”

“ Socks and stockings are, at the present time, the most usual coverings for the lower parts of the legs, and there is at least one vestige which remains in their structure that has an interest for us. Before we consider this, however, we may look at another means of protecting the lower extremities which tells of more primitive conditions. The leg bandages so commonly worn by our regular soldiers and volunteers are the case in point. ”

“ The thighs begin to struggle, as if formication was going on in the muscles. It is an impotent [Pg 341] movement, and yet is done consciously; for the trunk of the body, which was beginning more and more to yield, now begins to turn clumsily backward; the left hand clutches the soil; the arm is trying to heave, to lift. But the weight is too heavy, the shaft inside too firmly and too deeply rooted. Nevertheless the hips succeed in rising ”

“ In almost the precise center of the laboratory a tall form, swathed in bandages, reposed on a white metal table, and the surgeons were busily engaged in removing the bandages from a pair of legs that seemed abnormally long and from arms that terminated in thick-fingered, hairy hands and were not so much long as abnormally muscular and strong-sinewed.
The shoulders of the man on the table seemed abnormally muscular too, and so broad that they resembled more the shoulders of a giant than those of a man of average weight and stature. ”

“ For those bendings which men have in their arms, four-footed beasts have in their hinder legs ; but I except the ape, which is but half man : and so that which is the knee in the leg is the elbow in the arm. Qu. I take it in. Ch. And so one bending answers to another. Qu. You mean of the fore-legs and the hinder legs. Ch. You have it. So that in that bending which answers to the bending which is behind the knee the talus stands, when a four-footed beast stands upright, the upper and lower part of which is a little bended, but not altogether after the same manner ”

“ Instead of the slender things which seem as if a [12] sudden strain would snap them, and are nothing but mere bone, she had a pair of well-shaped ankles, justly proportioned to what would soon be a fine form; strong, but neither thick, nor coarse, nor heavy, ankles that would carry her many a mile without weariness, that ended good legs with plenty of flesh on them. ”

“ If, however, the child attempts either as the result of imitation or from encouragement to walk before the normal bandy condition had passed off, the result will necessarily be either an arrest in the development of the limbs or an increase of the bandy condition. If the child is weakly, either rachitic or suffering from any ailment which prevents the due ossification of the bones, or is improperly fed, the bandy condition may remain persistent. ”

“ Women wore a tight bandage round the ankle to increase the size of their calves. Strings of tastefully arranged beads, bones, shells, and stones, and gaily colored bandages, were worn round the neck and wrist; the women adorning the legs and ankles in a similar manner, and also using feathers and flowers. Certain interior tribes, as the Smoos, esteem a round MOSQUITO HEAD-FLATTENING. forehead as a reproach, and hence the head is flattened, the effect of which would be more noticeable, were it not for the thick bushy hair. ”

“ The Dressing of Complicated Fractures
Of the Arms, Legs, and Thighs is prepar'd with a Bandage having Eighteen Heads or Ends, in order to make which, a Linnen-Cloth is to {295}be taken of the length of the Part, and broad enough to cause it to be cross'd thereby: It is to be folded into three doubles, and cut in three places on each side, leaving the middle plain; so that eighteen Heads or small Bands are form'd, every one of which will be four fingers broad, the upper Heads being a little shorter than the lower. ”

“ Now the natural position of an infant's arms is forwards, and if they are carelessly bent back, there is danger of their being dislocated at the shoulder, for in infancy the cup-like surface with which the main-bone of the arm articulates is very shallow, and the process at the outer and upper extremity of the shoulder-blade, which serves to protect the joint, has not reached its firm and full development. Hence, if the clothes are made to fasten down the front, they must be cut very wide in the back, and great care must be taken in inserting the little arms into the sleeves. ”

“ They have broad thick flat feet, thick ankles, and crooked legs: the last of which deformities is to be ascribed, in part, to the universal practice of squatting, or sitting on the calves of their legs and heels, and also to the tight bandages of beads and strings worn round the ankles, by the women, which prevent the circulation of the blood, and render the legs, of the females, particularly, ill shaped and swollen. ”

“ They possess when young very well modelled arms and legs, the only fault to be found among the majority of them being the frequent thickness of the wrists and ankles, which rather takes away from their refinement. ”

“ Each man has an iron band riveted round his ankle, and another round his waist, and the chain is fastened, one end into each of these bands, and dangles between them, clanking with every movement. This leaves the wearers free to use their arms, and, indeed, their whole body, it being only a weight and a badge and a note for discovery, from which they cannot rid themselves. ”

“ And once again all my powers of will and muscle were centred on a single design and action as with machine-like rhythm the boot wore itself against the rock. Disengaged from every other theme, my mind dwelt on the one steady, inevitable purpose. Rub! Rub! Rub! And I fancied I saw leathern dust fall like filings from iron down deeper into the crevice. Before dawn the boot was working freely, and with one arm on the compressed body of the wallaby to case my weight, rest was possible. The plan for the disengagement of the right foot, painfully rigid and cold, was perfect in theory. ”

“ Around this, the shoulder, and the other armpit, a bandage is to be put on in the form of the Greek letter Χ, so that the decussation may take place above the affected shoulder; and the arm is to be bound to the sides; and the elbow and hand are to be slung by the neck, so that the limb may not fall out again while the dislocation is recent. After the seventh day or later, having loosed the bandages, we must have recourse to moderate friction, so that the body being rendered firmer, the joint may become less liable to luxations. ”

“ Continuous Extension in the straight position is employed for fractures of the femur and in hip-disease. It is procured as follows. A stirrup is fastened to the leg in the way described at page 76; to this a cord and weight are attached below the sole of the foot, and passed over a pulley fixed to a tripod frame (fig. 54) , or any convenient object below the bed, in a line with the axis of the limb. The weight should balance the contraction of the muscles, and usually varies between 2 and 6 lbs. A perineal band fastened behind the patient’s head keeps the body from following the limb. ”

“ Bandaging,-agreeably to the rule in other joints; but this is to be attended to also,-the bandages should be numerous, and softer than usual; compression less; more water than usual to be used in the allusions; to be applied especially to the heel. The same object should be sought after in the position as in the bandaging, namely, that the humors may not be determined to the heel; the limb to be well laid should have the heel higher than the knee. Splints not to be used.
Part XXXI When the foot is dislocated, either alone, or with the epiphysis, the displacement is more apt to be inward. ”

“ But, as formerly stated, the upper bone (sternal fragment?) is rarely depressed downward. In most cases, after the bandages have been applied, that position is beneficial in which the elbow is fixed to the same side, and the shoulder is kept elevated; but in certain cases, the shoulder is to be raised, as has been directed, and the elbow is to be brought forward to the breast, and the hand laid on the acromion of the sound side. If the patient has the resolution to lie in bed, something should be placed so as to support the shoulder, and keep it as much elevated as possible. ”

“ The knees are drawn up, and cotton mantles cover the lower extremities. The chest, scantily covered with a ragged, dark-coloured wrap, heaves at long intervals; the extremities begin to stretch; the face is devoid of expression; the eyes are wide open, staring, glassy ”

“ The elbow should be bent, in order to relax the muscles. A firm leather bandage, from four to five inches broad, with strong straps, is next to be tied round the arm, immediately above the elbow; when the arm should be gradually extended by assistants, pulling these straps, while another person withdraws the shoulder-blade. The extension and counter-extension must be regulated by the situation of the head of the bone. ”

“ The Foot is very rarely dislocated from the leg without fracture of the malleoli. Its reduction requires simple extension of the foot on the leg, with the [Pg 111] knee bent; the surgeon grasps the heel in one hand, the foot in the other, while an assistant fixes the thigh in the half-bent position. The foot is first drawn downwards to disengage it from the tibia, and then directed into its place.
After reduction the limb should be put in a McIntyre’s splint, in the way described for fracture of the tibia near the ankle-joint. ”

“ Under the present régime the right foot is used in sympathy with the right hand, and when people stand long, the weight of the body is rested upon it, by which the length of the limb is diminished, as also the arch of the foot. To produce equilibrium of body and brain, the muscles of both sides should be equally exercised, and little children should be taught from the first to use both hands indiscriminately, instead of being scolded for using the left. I have more than once seen children at table with their left hands tied behind them, so as to prevent the possibility of their using them. ”

“ The foot-piece is adjusted and fastened to the foot by straps of plaster carried round it and up each side of the leg, as was done for the stirrup extension in the “long splint” (p. 76) .
Step 3. The limb is next placed in the cradle formed for it, to the lower end of which the foot-piece is tied securely; the ropes are rove through the pulleys and tightened till the limb swings easily. The point of attachment of the ropes must not be just above the limb, but beyond it, that the leg may be drawn away from the body along its own axis. ”

“ For a leg hanging like a flail, or shortened by some inches, is not so good for purposes of locomotion as a wooden leg is, while an arm, even though powerless at the elbow, and perhaps much shortened, can be so strengthened and supported by slings and bandages as to give a most useful hand, the complex movements and uses of the fingers of which no mechanism can at all imitate. ”