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31
Dr. Grace Anderson, one of the Assistant School Medical Officers,
has, during the past year directed her attention specially to deformities
of minor degree considered to be capable of remedy by special drill.
She reports as follows:—
"In a number of the schools remedial exercises are now in progress.
Cases of spinal curvature, round shoulders, flat chests, flat feet
and general or local muscular weakness are selected by the school
doctor, either at the routine medical inspection or at a special inspection
of the whole department, and each case is considered separately and
performs a series of exercises for the remedy of the particular defect.
The patients begin with simple exercises which at each visit of
the school doctor are changed to a more strenuous variety bearing on
the particular group of muscles showing weakness.
The mothers of the children suffering from curvature are instructed
in massage of the back muscles. This they carry out at home when
the exercises are performed there. In some instances the nurses do
the massage in school, and from time to time visit the homes to see
that it is being properly performed there.
Owing to the courtesy and co-operation of the head teachers in
taking a personal interest in the work, the treatment of these cases has
been most successful. At several of the schools, however, the teachers
are rather handicapped by lack of floor space.
The ideal measures would, of course, be to have a teacher who
is specially qualified in physical culture and an orthopaedic centre,
equipped with suitable appliances, to which cases could be referred for
treatment.
In the past all curvature cases were referred to certain special
Hospitals in London. This meant time and expense to the parents
and absence from school to the children. The parents often neglected
to have the children treated until the defect was advanced, but now
that the work is carried on in school this is obviated."
It is recognised that to remedy a deformity that has been allowed
to develop is not the true function of the School Medical Service.
It is, in fact, an expression of failure. Some progress has, however,