ELECTRICAL THERAPEUTICS

Otago Witness, Issue 3442, 2 March 1920, Page 8

ELECTRICAL THERAPEUTICS

An interesting addition to the institutions in existence in Dunedin fof the treatment of disease is being made in.the opening by Miss Maud Reynolds of rooms in Moray place for the application of electricity oa. a therapeutic agent in accordance ■with methods which, are now being employed in > Great Britain. Miss Reynolds had the advantage of performing massage -and electrical work in London Hospital during the past five years under the personal direction of such practitioners as Dr Cumberbach and Dr Macgregor (of St. Bartholomew's Hospital), Dr Grace (an ex-New Zealander, of the Manor House Hospital), Captain Bristow fof the Orthopaedic Hospital, Hammersmith), and Dr Elizabeth Sloan Cheshire (of Harley street, London), and she is the holder of an I.S.T.M. certificate. She now proposes to put the experience she has gained to use under the supervision of medical practitioners in this city, and, with this object, the rooms < which she has taken have been fitted up with electrical appliances of the latest and most approved type, such as is used in the London hospitals. Large motors have been installed for the transformation of the current derived from the mains and for the communication of it to various instruments, each of which has its own special use. The treatment room,, on the ground floor, contains, for example, besides the necessary furnishings, a high frequency machine, used for the treatment of troubles associated with a high blood pressure and for the healing of various forms of ulcers; a therapeutic light of the dazzling brilliancy represented by 3000 candle-power—a light • which is claimed to be inferior only to pure. sunlight in its efficacy in the treatment of skin troubles, and of value in the treatment of ailments so different in their ss bronchitis on the one hand and rheTimatism and sciatica on the other hand; and a diathermy machine which generates extreme heat and is employed in the treatment of such cases as tachycardia and Raynaud's disease, while it is also used in the treatment of cancer in inoperable parts of the human body. A hydro-electric bath through which riiav be run the continuous faradic or 6innsoidal current, valuable for the treatment of paralysis and all forms of rheumatism and for the general toning-up of the system, and several galvanic ajid faradic batteries and a vibrator, which have their uses in general therapeutics, are among the other appliances in the treatment room. A small room on the first floor, to be utilised for general treatment ,is fitted with batteries and with galvano sets, the value of wh''ch has only recently been appreciated. Adjoinintr this room is a snecial treatment room flooded with lierht and air. and so arranged that it is pficularlv adapted for gynsacolog-ical work .and for small operations Which it may suit _ practitioners to per-' form in these rooms. "Bright and cheerful waiting and rest moras have also bsen provided, in which comfort and convenience of patients Trill He> solicitously studied.