Bulletin Volume 248 (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1919 edition. Excerpt: ...dorso-lumbar region, which was tender. X rays of the spine showed that there was a flattening and crushing of the body of the first lumbar vertebra, with some callus laid down between it and the twelfth dorsal vertebra above and the second lumbar below. There was an obliteration of the intervertebral space between the first and second lumbar vertebrae. This man had a not very severe fall, few symptoms following, except backache, and expresses a willingness to go to work, yet he has had a fracture of one of his vertebral bodies. He has also been without any real treatment since the accident. I believe that many of the unexplained backaches following falls and injuries of various sorts, which heretofore have been called " railway spines," "neurasthenic spines," and "traumatic spines" may have well been fractures of the vertebral bodies of this type. Male; age 29. Accident, November (3, 1916. Examination, July 30, 1917. This man stated that a bag of flour fell from a height onto his back as he was stooping over. After the accident he was taken to a hospital, where his back was strapped, and he was kept in bed for 17 days, at the end of which time a plaster jacket was applied. This he wore for 32 days. No X rays were taken there, but he had some taken in Boston in February, 1917, which were reported as negative. He has been without support to his back since the plaster cast was removed. He complains of considerable pain and weakness in the back, more marked when walking around and when trying to lift anything than when sitting or lying down. Examination shows that his back is flexible to all motions, but that he complained of pain in side bending. There was a small kyphos at the first lumbar vertebra. There...