PLATE VIII. L. A. DUGAS'S THIGH-SPLINT. "Suitable compresses having been placed upon the thigh, apply over them four wooden splints a little shorter than the femur (one in front, one in the rear, and one on either side), and secure these with many-tailed bandages or with single ties. A two or three pound weight should then be fixed to the foot and hang over the foot-board of the bed, as indicated in the annexed figures, so as to keep up extension, while the resistance of the patient's body will effect counter-extension. A splint four inches wide, and extending from the side of the thorax to a little below the foot, will now serve to keep the limb straight and to maintain the foot in a proper position. This splint should be secured by separate ties passed around the abdomen, pelvis, thigh, leg, and foot. Finally, an arch of crossed hoops should protect the toes from the bedclothes."-See Southern Med. and Surg. Journal, Feb. 1854, p. 69. Fig. 1. The long splint is omitted because it would mask the drawing. Fig. 2. Illustrates the mode of securing the weight without fatigue to the ankle-joint. PLATE IX. JAMES L. VAN INGEN'S THIGH APPARATUS. Fig. 1. a, b, c, d, e. Small blocks or bricks to elevate the lower bed-posts, making an inclined plane of the whole bed. 8. A piece of board, one to two inches broad, nailed to the posts of an ordinary bed, to which the straps of the half-gaiter are attached. From this bar, or narrow strip of board, extension is made. o. A very small oval pillow under the knee. i. A wedge-shaped pad or pillow under the lower part of the leg, and terminating just above the heel. Fig. 2. a, b, c, d. Bricks or blocks, same as in Fig. 1. o, e. Pads or pillows, same as in Fig. 1. i, i. A strip of cotton cloth, or of adhesive plaster, laid along each side of the limb, split at the lower end, and fastened to the foot-board, after having been secured to the leg by a few turns of the roller. This may be substituted at pleasure for the half-gaiter seen in Fig. 1. Fig. 3. Same as Figs. 1 and 2; with b, b, b, splints of coaptation sewed in a splint cloth, to be used in fractures of the leg; and g, g, g, to be used in fractures of the thigh. Over the whole are lines representing a Scultetus bandage. The pillow under the head should leave the neck and shoulders quite free, to allow the body to produce counter-extension. |