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The third method is by a motor-driven tractor. The table for this usually (though not necessarily) has an opening several inches wide and about the length of the average spine, below which is placed a row of electric bulbs which heat the spine during traction. There are loops for head and. chin, and shoulder bars; but, instead of the foot-loops, there is a leather belt that encircles the waist or hips, to which is attached a long leather strap or a pair of straps that reaches from the motor-driven lever beyond the foot-end of the table.
The motor is beneath the table top, on a shelf. When the belts, straps, and loops (or shoulder-bars) are adjusted as indicated, the motor is started by pressing a switch button. The lever draws the belt downward toward the feet, which places a traction irpon the entire spine if the head and chin-loops are used, or upon the spine below the shoulders if the shoulder-bars are used. After a pull the lever returns toward the table, thus releasing the traction. There is a constant alternation of traction and release as long as the motor is running. The degree of traction may be adjusted from being barely noticeable to as pronounced a traction as one desires, by ad¬justing the strap attached to the waist band and lever. The heat from the electric bulbs aids very greatly in relaxing the muscles and ligaments of the spine, and also greatly increases the circulation in this region. The quiet hum of the motor, the rhythmic traction and release, and the relaxing warmth upon the spine, often put the patients to sleep.
The second method is per¬formed on a table made espe¬cially for the purpose. This has the foot-loops, shoulder-bars (usually padded blocks), and the loops for the head and chin, and is controlled by a lever within reach of the hand. Either the entire spine, including the neck, or the spine below the shoulders may be stretched, by using the head-loops or the shoulder-bars, respectively. This method also places traction upon the spine and lower extremities. One may also arrange to have a cross-bar well overhead (just within reach of the hands) to be grasped for the purpose of securing a direct pull upon the body with the hands, the feet being in their loops. This is beneficial for the lower part of the spine and the pelvis, but, does not stretch the upper spine well, because of the con¬traction of the upper spinal muscles, and it does not stretch the neck at all.
There are three ways in which this traction may be done. The first is the simplest and requires but little appa¬ratus, which can be easily put up by anyone. It consists merely of a loop or pair of loops, preferably of leather, nailed or otherwise firmly secured to the floor, a pulley overhead, through which runs a rope having a knot at one end and a double loop large enough for the head on the other end. A series of knots may be arranged on the free end of the rope if desired. The double loop may be made of soft leather, sheeting or toweling. One of these loops is placed at the back of the head, the other under the chin, the attachment to the rope being at the top of the head. When these loops are adjusted to the head, the feet are placed in the floor-loops, and the individual pulls upon the free end of the rope. This causes traction, through the pulley, upon the loop end of the rope and stretches the entire spine, as well as the ligaments of the hips pelvies, and the lower extrem ities. Or, if desired, one may omit the foot-loops, in which case the pull upon the rope may be sufficient to raise the bod}’ from the floor.
This, however, would not be advisable for one who had poorly developed neck muscles and ligaments. Again, the upper loops may be placed under the armpits instead of about the head and chin, in case one does not wish to place trac¬tion upon the neck, though if properly done and not overdone, the neck traction is a most valu¬able part of the treatment. One may pull the spine fairly taut, then sway from side to side, and forward and backward, with ex¬cellent effect. A more simple but less effective method of se¬curing traction on the spine is by merely hanging relaxed while grasping an overhead bar.
We possess this power in some degree in traction, or stretching. Osteopaths secure many of their good results by manually stretch¬ing the contracted ligaments and muscles of the spinal column. But the individual can do much of this stretch¬ing himself. Excellent and necessary though it is, exercise alone will not pro¬duce the best traction, for during exer¬cise some of the muscles and ligaments and some of the intervertebral discs must be contracted, shortened, or com¬pressed. Spinal stretching is best done in an entirely different manner.
Consider the fact that man, as is the case with animals, should live approx¬imately five times the length of time required to reach maturity (about 125 years). Consider also the fact that between morning and night we shrink half an inch or so in height through the pull of gravity upon our fibrous spinal discs, recovering our former height dur¬ing the relaxation of sleep. It requires no great stretch of the imagination to realize the gradual permanent shrink¬age of these discs during advancing years. And since we know these discs to be full, resilient, and yielding in youth, and shrunken, inflexible, and rigid in old age, we must conclude that there is some rather close connection between their condition and youth on the one hand and old age on the other.
From the above we deduce that if we can postpone or hinder the shrink¬age of the intervertebral discs and other connective tissues along the spinal col¬umn, or if we can overcome some of the shrinkage that has already taken place, we can, to that extent, delay or over- come the decrepitude of age.
As age advances, the circulation of the body diminishes; less heat is produced; the walls of the blood-vessels contract, lessening the possibility of normal circulation; all the glands secrete less; all the functions associated with nutrition become weakened; elimination becomes sluggish; the suppleness of the joints and articulations give way to stiffness, allowing twists and sudden jerks and movements to irritate or produce pain; lubricating cells and tissues dry up; muscular and other tissues harden and contract, losing their tone and becoming otherwise impaired; organs shrivel up, and function barely enough to maintain life. In short, the machinery of the body gradually wears out, and life becomes an increas¬ing burden. Many of these changes may be reasonably considered as the re¬sult of shrinking of the spinal fibrous cushions and ligaments, inhibiting nerve-impulses from the spinal cord to the vital organs and tissues throughout the body.
Many ligaments unite the vertebra? at various points, practically surrounding them. A great many muscles, also, extend in various directions the full length of the spinal column, uniting the ertebrae, helping to hold the spinal column securely together, and making possible the many movements of the spine. But there are cartilages and liga- and ments at numerous points in the body, joining the head to the cervical vertebrae, the ribs to the dorsal vertebrae and the breast-bone, the lumbar vertebrae to the sacrum and the hips, the hips to the sacrum, the wing-like hip-bones to each other in front (at the pubes), and at all the joints of the extremities.
Cartilage, having no blood-vessels, lymphatics, or nerves, is unlike any other tissue in the manner of its nourishment. It is fed through absorption by a vacuum or suction-like process. Hence, normal movement cannot be restricted with¬out interfering with the nutrition of these structures. Con¬nective tissue, of which cartilage and ligaments are composed, is different from other tissues in that it contracts when injured and hardens upon healing. It also contracts and hardens with age. This largely accounts for the loss of height as one becomes older.
Through long-continued improper posture, or on account of weakness, strains, jolts, jars and numerous other conditions incident to average life, the connective tissue, whether com¬posed of cartilage or ligaments, becomes more or less damaged. This is noticed particularly in the intervertebral discs. The spi¬nal “windows” or openings are so large that an accident, or shrinkage from old age or other conditions, rarely permits di¬rect bony pressure upon the spinal nerves and vessels. But such conditions do have a very detrimental effect upon these structures, through the contraction of the connective tissue fill¬ing out these windows and the connective-tissue fibers that ex¬tend outward from them onto the sheaths covering the nerves and vessels. It is corrective of such conditions of the liga¬ments which naprapathy (page 2764) aims to correct.
There are twenty-three intervertebral discs, one between each two movable vertebra?. These discs are composed of fibro-cartilage, with more or less gelatinous centers. They are all elastic and rubber-like and serve as shock-absorbers, minimizing the effects upon the spinal cord and brain of jolts, jars, and concussions. Were it not for these discs motion would be slow, clumsy, very limited, and no doubt more or less painful. These pads serve also to separate the vertebra?, and to maintain suitable space for the spinal nerves which pass out and the blood-vessels which pass in through the openings between each two vertebra?.
Upon the upper orifices there is little to be done in the way of orificial therapy by anyone but the specialist—except what the “finger surgeon” may do, and that is a great deal. Un¬fortunately there are too few such surgeons. They are usually osteopaths who have specialized upon the upper orifices, doing their work with deft fingers alone. Spurs, deviated septum and other abnormal conditions of the nose; tonsilitis, adenoids, “tight” throat, tense palate, elongated uvula, and affections of the Eustachian tube are often relieved by their ingenious work. If the layman takes the time and gives a little thought to the matter, he may improve the internal condition of his nose and throat by manipulation; but the work of the specialist is always to be preferred to the haphazard work of the layman. See Hay-fever in Volume VIII, for description of the manipula¬tions the layman may safely use.
The uses of orificial therapy are discussed under the ail¬ments to which such treatments are applicable. See Volumes VII and VIII.
The spinal column is more than merely the vertical central axis of the body that supports the remainder of the frame¬work. The systems of spinal manipulation have popularized the spinal column, and most people are aware of the fact that down through its center runs the spinal cord, and that out from this, through numerous openings, the spinal nerves pass to supply all the structures below the skull.
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