April/ 1953 P H Y S I O T H E R A P Y Page One 4 EDITORIAL THE first International Congress o f Physical T herapy is to take place in L ondon in Septem ber o f this year, and this is a vital landm ark in the history o f Physiotherapy. As many people as possible interested in physical medicine should attend this Congress, which, to judge from the elaborate program m e, prom ises to b e ' extraordinarily interesting. H ere is an opportunity for us to gather round and dis­ cuss general and particular problem s affecting our various countries, and it will surely be proved how im portant it is that ideas are exchanged, rather than sitting on them at home wondering if they could work. I t is the only way to (progress by meeting and absorbing the best from all our different worlds. However, it seems th at unless the pall o f apathy hanging over physical medicine in this country is lifted, South Africa will be making no contribution at all. We more than keep up with other countries in many other fields o f science. W hy must o u r particular interest be so unproductive ? Perhaps it is because th e people who have no t seen physical medicine at w ork overseas can have no idea o f its potentialities and in this instance one refers particularly to the medical profession outside o u r own particular sphere. But we m ust educate them, and th at can only be done by constant p ro o f o f o u r abilities, a fact which will be purely mythical unless we bother to read contem porary literature on our subject, to interest ourselves in new. methods of treatm ent, and to shake ourselves out o f the uninspiring ru t o f routine methods which may or m ay not give o u r patients the greatest benefit. We are not all in th a t rut, but far too many are. South Africa, with its wealth o f material, should hold a prim e place as a co ntributor in th e developm ent o f physiotherapy, but at the mom ent she seems to be sadly unaw are of this, which reflects a disinterestedness which she should be asham ed to admit. Postgraduate Course, March, 1953. This C ourse was on “ O rthopoedics ” and had the largest attendance of any Postgraduate C ourse to date, there being over sixty postgraduates present. T his was extremely encouraging, and proves that the trouble taken by the organisers o f these Courses is well rewarded, and we hope they are now a regular feature in o u r lives. On Friday, M arch 13th, M r. J. Edelstein, Senior O rthopoedic Surgeon o f the Johannesburg H ospital, gave a most interesting and inform ative lecture on “ The Acrylic H ead.” H e prefaced his subject w ith the fascinating story | of the various forms o f hip arthroplasty which have been tried, culm inating in the use of the acrylic head o f the femur, which to date seems the most satisfactory way o f creating a virtually new h ip jo im . H e dem onstrated three cases upon which he had operated, and they were proof o f the essential co-operation which must exist between the orthopoedic specialist and the physiotherapist if the patient is to receive the full benefit of the surgeon’s skill. The whole of the next morning, Saturday, was taken up by a lecture on “ Backs,” given by M r. C. E. Allan, a Bloemfontein O rthopoedic Surgeon, and the discussion that this provoked. H e gave a stim ulating talk, illustrating his points by most interesting graphs of. the a n a ly s is 'o f the muscle work involved in the back when movement takes place. Mr. Allan has done a vast am ount o f research on this subject,and we were extremely grateful fo r the way in which he shared his findings w ith us, and for the advice he gave us about treatm ent. On Saturday afternoon, his brother M r. A. L. Allan, who is a neuro-surgeon in Johannesburg, talked to us about the “ Cervical Syndrom e.” H is lecture was m ost au th o rati- tive, particularly in th at he firmly believes th at the true cervi­ cal lesion is a rarity, and th at practically all the sym ptom s o f the “ Cervical Syndrome ” are caused by the projection o f ostoephytes into the intervertebral foram ina, a theory th at is fast being accepted throughout the w o rld .. H e stim ulated us by refuting some o f o u r most com m only accepted forms o f treatm ent, and we w ent from his lecture w ith a num ber o f "most im portant ideas passed on to us. A fter tea. Miss G. Wilson, o f the U niversity of the W it- watersrand Physiotherapy staff, conducted a very interesting and enlightening dem onstration o f exercises as used in back classes for spinal fractures at various stages, and for cases of spondylitis. T he physiotherapy students o f the , U niversity acted as patients, and a very fine display they gave. We all h ad our ideas refreshed by this dem onstration, and this practical side o f the C ourse proved very popular. Miss B lair dem onstrated the use o f Mrs. G u th rie Smith’s latest invention, the Bed-chair, a m ost ingenious and useful piec3 o f apparatus which could well be adopted for very many patients. W e look forw ard to seeing this Bed- chair in com m on use in South Africa. M r. A. R othberg closed th e C ourse most ably, by thanking the lecturers and organisers, thus expressing the views o f all o f us about a C ourse which was one o f the most stim ulating and informative th at we have had. In the evening Miss Susie O osthuizen went to a great deal o f trouble to provide a braaivleis a t her farm Tussen- koppies, which now houses the “ A valon ” R ehabilitation C entre. W hether because o f th e rain, o r because o f general apathy, this was poorly attended, though those o f us who were there thoroughly enjoyed ourselves eating, drinking and m aking merry, and meeting th e “ Avalon ” patients. O ur thanks to M edical D istributors for so generously helping jus w ith the catering expenses. We can only look forward w ith confidence to th e next Course. R ep ro du ce d by S ab in et G at ew ay u nd er li ce nc e gr an te d by th e P ub lis he r (d at ed 2 01 3. )