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Question:—What is the commonest cause of deafness in children?
Answer:—Probably the commonest cause is neglected infection of the middle
ear. No child should be allowed to develop a persistent running ear. Indeed,
nowadays very few children in Barking are so allowed, and for that we must, to
a large measure, thank the mothers of Barking who do take a pride and care in
the health of their children.
Every now and then, however, one does come upon a boy or girl where the
mother has perhaps not realised the seriousness of letting a discharging ear go on
without treatment. To these mothers I would say we are most anxious that they
should bring or send their child to one of our Minor Ailment Clinics in the morning,
where they will be treated by the doctor or, if necessary, referred to the Consultant
Ear, Nose and Throat Specialist.
ORTHOPÆDIC CLINIC
Question:—What does our Orthopaedic Consultant Surgeon do?
Answer:—As we said in our last Report an Orthopaedic Surgeon means
literally a surgeon who helps children to grow straight.
In practice, however, he does not confine himself to children only, but deals
also with adults, although an Orthopaedic Surgeon will naturally confine himself
mostly to those parts of the body concerned
with movement and posture—namely, the
muscles, the bones and the joints.
The Orthopaedic Surgeon has a great
deal to do with feet, which are very much
abused by us when we walk on hard surfaces;
and when we wear shoes which are not the
right shape, which are not the right size and
which are not (very often) made of the right
material.
The Orthopaedic Surgeon deals with every such similar disability right up
to and including wry neck and, of course, has a lot to do (and very successfully)
with the after treatment of cases of Infantile Paralysis.
Question:—Do "flat feet" matter?
Answer:—The answer to this simple question must of necessity be—" It all
depends."
If you look at your feet, or anybody else's for that purpose, it is perfectly
simple to see that the heel rests on the ground and that the ball of the foot (just
behind the toes) also rests on the ground and that between, and from behind
(forwards) there is an arch. For easy reference I want to give this arch a name
and will call it the longitudinal arch. Incidentally, if you look very carefully—
particularly on the ball of the foot—you will find that at right-angles to this longitudinal
arch there is another arch from side to side, and if we call the first one
the longitudinal arch it is perfectly simple to find a name for the second arch, which
naturally we will call the transverse arch.
Orthopaedic Clinic
Number of Consultant Surgeon's
Clinics 20
Primary examinations by
Surgeon 80
Re-examinations by Surgeon 179
Total number of cases seen
by Surgeon 259
12