[p. 188]knee. Extension should
be made and the bones adjusted at every new bandaging; for, if properly
treated, and if the swelling progress in a suitable manner, the bandaged
limb will have become more slender and attenuated, and the bones will
be more mobile, and yield more readily to extension. On the seventh,
the ninth, or the eleventh day, the splints should be applied as described
in treating of the other fractures. Attention should be paid to the
position of the splints about the ankles and along the tendon of the
foot which runs up the leg. The bones of the leg get consolidated
in forty days, if properly treated. But if you suspect that anything
is wanting to the proper arrangement of the limb, or dread any ulceration,
you should loose the bandages in the interval, and having put everything
right, apply them again.
Part 17
But if the other bone (fibula?) of the leg be broken, less powerful
extension is required, and yet it must not be neglected, nor be performed
slovenly, more especially at the first bandaging. For in all cases
of fracture this object should be attained then as quickly as possible.
For when the bandage is applied tight while the bones are not properly
arranged, the properly arranged, the part becomes more painful. The
treatment otherwise is the same.
Part 18
Of the bones of the leg, the inner one, called the tibia, is the more
troublesome to manage, and requires the greater extension; and if
the broken bones are not properly arranged, it is impossible to conceal
the distortion, for the bone is exposed and wholly uncovered with
flesh; and it is much longer before patients can walk on the leg when
this bone is broken. But if the outer bone be broken, it causes much
less trouble, and the deformity, when the bones are not properly set,
is much more easily concealed, the bone being well covered with flesh;
and the patients speedily get on foot, for it is the inner bone of
the leg which supports the most of the weight of the body. For along
with the thigh, as being in a line with weight thrown upon the thigh,
the inner bone has more work to sustain; inasmuch as it is the head
of the thigh-bone which sustains the upper part of the body, and it
is on the inner and not on the outer side of
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