THE SURGERY OF INFANTILE PARALYSIS

Abstract

During the early days after an attack of acute anterior poliomyelitis there is usually little to be done except to make the patient as comfortable as possible. Pain is often so severe that massage and electricity cannot be used, and the only important detail of the treatment is the careful prevention of deformity. This paper will deal only with the treatment of paralysis of the legs and the trunk, as paralysis of the arms is much less frequent, and would require too much additional time to consider. The most common deformity following infantile paralysis is the dropping downward of the foot at the ankle-joint, pes equinus. In some cases this is not due to a permanent paralysis of the anterior tibial muscle and the toe extensors, but to the fact that in many instances the attending physician takes no measures to hold the foot at a right-angle during the first