UNFIT TROOPS

Dominion, Volume 35, Issue 20, 18 October 1941, Page 4

UNFIT TROOPS

Remedial Treatment

Dominion Special Service. AUCKLAND. October 17. An important experiment in remov ing physical unfitness,'and thereby en, abling men to undertake the most, exacting Army service is being carried out at Papakura mobilization camp.'. More than 130 Territorials who are fit only for home defence service are receiving a special course of corrective exercises, the aim of wnich is to make potential Expeditionary Force material of them. . a „ The experiment is distinct from the remedial treatment scheme which has been in operation throughout the country since toward the beginning oi this year. This scheme is operated through hospital treatment, whereas that- which has just been started at Papakura camp has physical training as its most important feature. The possibilities of such a scheme had already been shown by remedial treatment given a number of Expeditionary Force soldiers who had “broken down” in the first , few weeks of training. Of 85 such men selected from the last two drafts in camp only 14 had to be discharged from the army after remedial courses had been given. The percentage of successes from the territorials will probably not be so higli because they enter camp as Grade 2 men, whereas the Expeditionary Force soldiers are all Grade 1, but even if only 50 per cent, have their unfitness removed the value of the scheme is obvious, that is, so long as large num bers of men can be dealt with in a com paratively short time. Men receiving the treatment include some with knee or foot troubles, those suffering from underdevelopment, others with various nervous defects, chronic backache cases, and so on Because none of them are able te undertake full military training, the course through which they arS taken is slower than the usual one and pby sical training is given for 20 out of the 44 periods into which a soldiers week instruction is divided. The attack on the men’s ailments is made through their living conditions and is under strict medical control, while the exercises are given under the supervision of an otlicei with long experience of this type of work. Fresh air, warmth, a well-balanced and wel. prepared diet, and proper corrective exercises are considered essential for the success of the scheme, and a study of the work being done certainly indicates that al! these factors are present at Papakura. The physical training itself is divided into groups, and includes exercises which are specially directed against the weakness from wffiicb the different men are suffering. Gaines also play an important part in the .training and there are also quiet walking exercises of increasing length. Every fortnight the men are medically examined to see what progress has been made, and later it is ex pected that at the end of every fortnight it will be possible to march men

out of camp to their unite after going tefo're a final medical board. . Occasionally, the task of tbo remedial treatment officers is easy. A case occurred this week of a man who, when asked what was wron- with him. said he bad never been fitter in his life. However, he admitted that when the army doctors examined him he. was Grade 2 because of continued business worries and overwork By the time he r.ad been in camp for about a fortnight he had put on 161 b. and no longer was anything but Grade 1.