Massage, Part 2. Measles. Medicines

Papers on Health
by John Kirk

(Page 16 of 21)

An intelligent moving of all the muscles of a part is almost equal in benefit to gymnastic exercise, and can of course be given to those for whom gymnastics are out of the question. Yet such rubbing may fatigue a very weak patient, and care must be taken not to carry it too far at one time. There should also never be any hurting of the skin. Where the hands are felt too rough, the back may be covered with a soft cloth, oiled with olive oil. All strong strokes in rubbing the limbs should be directed inwards to where the limb joins the body. The lighter strokes should be outwards. It is always well to have a light and heavy stroke, as a joiner has in sawing.

As an instance of how to squeeze, let us take an arm that has got wrong somehow. If you take this arm between your two hands very gently, you feel that it is harder than it should be. The large muscles, even when the arm is at perfect rest, have a hard feeling to your hands, and not the soft, nice feeling which a perfectly healthy arm has. Probably the muscles have been over-stretched, and sprained, or they have been chilled, and so have lost their elasticity and softness. Well, it will be so far good if you can bathe this arm in hot water. It will be better still if the hot water used is full of soap. You can make this bathing ten times more effective, if you only know what is meant by a proper squeezing of the muscles.

You use your two hands in the water of the soapy bath, and taking the arm between them, gently press the muscles between your hands, with a sort of working upon them that makes the blood in the stiff parts rush out and in, according as you press or relieve the pressure. If you can only get hold of the idea, it will not be difficult to do this right. It may be that the cords of the arm are not only hard, but also contracted, so that the arm cannot be straightened or bent as it ought to be, but it is still so squeezable that you can squeeze the blood out of it, and it is still so elastic that when you relieve it of the pressure of your hands the blood rushes back into it. If this squeezing is kindly and slowly done, it will feel very pleasant, and very soon its good effect will be perceptible.

It is sometimes thought that there is some "magic" in one person's hands that is not in another's. Here is a case in which one person has rubbed, he thinks, perfectly right, and no relief has come. Another brings relief in a few minutes. It is concluded that some mysterious "gift" is possessed by the latter. This may do well enough for an excuse when you do not care to have the trouble of curing your fellow-creatures, but it is not true. If we are to "covet earnestly the best gifts," it must be possible for all of us to get them. "The gift of healing" is surely one worth "coveting," and we think must be within reach, or we should not be told so to covet it. See also Head, Rubbing the.

Measles - An attack of this disease generally begins with a feeling of weariness. Then it appears as running and irritation of the eyes and nostrils, at which stage it is often taken for a common cold, the symptoms being very similar. Then this irritation spreads more or less over all the breathing apparatus, and finally the eruption appears in smaller or larger red patches, sometimes almost covering the face and other parts. The usual advice given is to keep the sufferer warm. It is good to do this so far as avoiding chills is concerned, but if the room be overheated and kept close and dark, only harm will ensue. The blinds of the windows should be kept drawn up to their full height, to admit as much light as possible. Fresh air should be admitted by keeping windows open. If the patient complains of sore eyes, these may be shaded by a screen, but not by lowering the blinds. This admission of free air and light is a very great preventive of the "dregs" which form so troublesome a feature in measles. The room can easily be kept sufficiently warm by fire in winter, even if the window be open. The patient must not be allowed to read or use his eyes much, or very serious mischief may ensue.

When it first appears in eyes and nose, a good large bran poultice should be placed at the back of the neck and down between the shoulders. Cold cloths should then be pressed over the brow and upper face. Do this for an hour. Give to drink lemon or orange drinks (see Drinks), taken hot, and in small quantities at a time. If this treatment is well done several times, the trouble may possibly be checked at the beginning. Where it has gone further, and cough shows irritation of the air tubes and lungs, then foment the feet and legs while applying cold cloths over the chest, as in bronchitis. If there be fever, and no signs of rash, then, to bring it out, pack in the soapy blanket. Where this cannot well be done, a most effectual pack is a small sheet wrung out of warm water and wrapped round the whole body, with a blanket wrapped well round it outside to retain the steam about the skin. But the soap is better. As a rule, there is not much need for further treatment when the rash fully develops. If, however, fever still remains, rub all over with hot vinegar. This is best done in the evening.

When all fever has subsided, a good rubbing of the back only may be given with warm olive oil. This may be done once a day. The feet should be watched lest they get clammy or cold.

For food, wheaten-meal porridge and milk food generally is the best. Do not give too much food at first, and keep the bowels well open.

Medicines - The delusion that health can be restored by swallowing drugs is so widespread that we think it well to quote the following wise words from the Lancet: -

"An eminent physician not long deceased was once giving evidence in a will case, and on being asked by counsel what fact he chiefly relied upon as establishing the insanity of the testator, replied without a moment's hesitation: 'Chiefly upon his unquestioning faith in the value of my prescriptions.' It might perfectly well be contended that this evidence failed to establish the point at issue, and that faith in the prescriptions of a physician hardly deserved to be stigmatized in so severe a manner. But admitting this, there is still little to be said in favor of the sagacity, even if we admit the sanity, of the numerous people who spend money and thought over the business of healing themselves, and who usually, if not indeed always, bring this business to an unfortunate conclusion.

Printed by Hurst Bros., Shaw Heath, Stockport. 1904.