TALKS ON HEALTH

Star (Christchurch), Issue 18576, 26 September 1928, Page 7

TALKS ON HEALTH

By-

When Sorrow Conies. How hard it is to'be brave when sorrow comes! We think other people give way too much to their griefs, and then when our turn comes we are as bad as they. We ought to be constantly saying to ourselves that we will hope to the last, but when sorrow comes we.will determine to bear it 'bravely. It is no

compliment to the dead to make a parade of our griefs: to the world, we ought to show a smiling face. Our tears should be shed in private. Work, the Antidote. The more we love the one who has gone, the harder we ought to try ib do justice to his memory by holding , our heads up and. continuing to do as much useful work as we can crowd into the daw Work is the best antidote to grief. And do not expect children and young people to mourn. It is unnatural to them to sit glum all day. Deep black and yards of crepe are depressing, and do no good to anyone. Respect for the dead is better shown by a life of activity and self-sac-rifice than by a life of melancholy. It sets a good example to show a brave face. Unless your religion teaches you that the dead are watched over with loving care, you are better without it. Bracing up the Spine. The spine and the muscles that are employed to strengthen it and move it in every direction form one of the most i wonderful pieces of mechanism in the world. When the spine is weak, the object of the surgeon is to improve the muscles so that they' can do their work, better. No braces, no straps, no jackets can ever be a perfect substitute for the healthy spine that Nature intended. The instruments are makeshifts. The muscles, like every other organ in the body, must be supplied with good, rich blood. Therefore, the careful mother will provide good food, well cooked, as one of the best and foremost means of bracing up the spine. An anaemic girl may' very likely have a weak back, and she requires nothing more than the cure of the anaemia. Exercise Necessary. A blacksmith’s muscles are strong, a clerk’s muscles are weak; and we can learn from that the necessity of exer-

A FAMILY DOCTOR

cises for the muscles of the spine. Bending movements and massage and douching with hot or cold are all useful plans to adopt. , If you say to the muscles, in effect, “ You carf be as lazy as you like, we will prpvjde a jacket to do vour work,” then the muscles will slacken off. There is a lot of human nature in muscles. But if you say to the muscles, “ Look here, you must buck up apd do your own work and you will get firmer every day.” then you are doing the right thing. A jacket or a special pair of braces is the last thing to think of, not the first. When the spine is actually diseased, of course, the diseased bones cannot bear the weight of the'body, and some artificial support must be given, but in a simple ease of weakness exercise is necessary. Surgical Appliances must Fit. When you are ordered to' wear a surgical appliance of any sort, you must be careful to get one to fit you. A truss, for example, must be an exact fit; the pad must come directly over the hole it has to protect. I have to emphasise this point because I see so many people wearing trusses that do not fit; they sometimes allow the rupture to come down past the truss, and then the instrument is worse than useless; it presses on the lump instead of the place where the lump comes through. But there you are. It is no use ray talking. You will wear father’s , truss or the one that Old Bill left you in his last will and testament. Then there are flat-foot supports. . They, too, must be properly adjusted for your own particular case. If the steel arch presses on the wrong place, it will make the aching of the foot worse. Spinal jackets must altvays be made for the individual. Surgical corsets and belts for abdominal support must all be measured for. An ill-fitting instrument is worse than no instrument; Spectacle frames must be of the right width. The lenses should come over the eyes so that the centre of the. eye is opposite the centre of the lens. If the eye looks through the top of the lens, the glasses will not have the desired effect. Hair and the Health. You must never forget how important the general health is in connection

with the health of the hair. It is not always possible to produce a beautiful head of hair for the asking. Some people have coarse or poor hair, and nothing will alter it; but when we recall that the hair grows from a root, and that the root is nourished by the blood, it will be seen how important the condition of the blood is.