It will be necessary, in pursuance of my plan, to describe as minutely
as the limits of a chapter will allow how and why this means is
employed. The process and order of what is known to the manipulator as
"general massage" follows.
After three or four days in bed have somewhat accustomed the patient to
the general routine of treatment, a masseur or masseuse is set to work.
If any special care is needed,--the avoidance of manipulating one part
or added attention to another, tender handling of a sensitive or timid
patient,--these matters have been ordered in advance by the physician.
An hour midway between meals is chosen, and, the patient lying in bed
between blankets, the manipulator begins, usually with the feet. A few
rapid rubs of the whole foot and leg are given to start with; then the
leg, except the foot and ankle, is covered up, and the operation
commences upon the foot, of which the skin is picked up and rolled
between the fingers, the whole foot receiving careful attention,--the
toes are pulled, bent, and moved in every direction, the inter-osseous
groups worked over with the thumbs and fingers or finger-tips, the
larger muscles and subcutaneous tissues squeezed and kneaded, and last
the whole mass of the foot rolled and pressed against the bones with
both hands.
Pages:
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86