ARTIFICIAL LIMS.

Ohinemuri Gazette, Volume XXIX, Issue 3940, 5 July 1918, Page 1

ARTIFICIAL LIMS.

! STANDARDISED SIZES ! UNSUITABLE.

"Surgeon-General Fethevston considers that limbs better and cheaper can be manufactured in Australia." So read a cablegram from London received in. Australia the other day. The opinion expressed in this cablegram has been shared by returned soldiers ever since the arrival of the fust Australian wounded with limbs fitted in English hospitals) says the Sydney "Sun." A large proportion oi these limbs have since had to be scrapped and Australian makes substituted for them. According to a leading medical man,, the trouble with the English-made limbs is that they are- not built to suit the individual case. They are made in standard sizes. A man is simply measured, and to get the right height the necessary portion is cut off the artificial limb. "It is impossible,",he says, "to get either a good fit or the proper pitch of the leg in this way. A cast must be taken in every case, and the new limb built to the stump. It would be just as sensible for a dentist to attempt to fit a plate of artificial teeth by taking measurements of the mouth instead of a cast. An artificial eye looks a simple enough thing to fit, yet the glass has to be ground to the smallest fraction of an inch in every case. Last week a man came to me who had been given one of these standard legs. His stump had grown away from him, and naturally as the new limb had n"t been built to cou.nteract this, it followed the direction of the stump. To walk at oil the man had%> have his leg out at an absurd distance from his body.

"One of Sydney's best makers says the soldiers bring their English-mids limbs to him and declare they can't use them. I fit them out, and they walk off, saying they'll come in for the old limb me of these days, but they always seem to forget abut it." This maker has a poor opinion of the standardised limb. His method is to take a full cast of the stump, and then build around it. In that way the stump will fit into the artificial limb socket exactly, without chafing or working. A full tracing of the good limb is then made, so that the joints can be fitted with exactly the same pitch and swing. It is impossible to do this with the standard leg. You must use it as it is. If a man is bow-legged no allowance can be made. "Here is a cast of a stump I took last week. The man was to be fitted with one of the standard limbs, but they told him he would have to have more of his leg amputated, as the stump was too long for their sections. He will be walking about on one of my limbs next week without any further operation or. trouble."