THE TREATMENT OF CARDIAC INSUFFICIENCY BY A NEW METHOD OF EXERCISE WITH DUMB-BELLS AND BARS

Abstract

Brilliant as has been the advance in our knowledge of the pathology and diagnosis of cardiac disease during the last decade, therapeutics in this field are practically the same as they were twenty years ago, and consist chiefly in rest, diet, and digitalis. The possibility of developing the inherent power of the heart muscle was affirmed many years ago by Oertel, who used the very arduous exercise of hill climbing for this purpose. Since then the Nauheim school has been the chief exponent of the treatment of cardiac insufficiency by exercise and baths. The literature on these methods is meager, and judging from the scarcity of published reports, but few physicians in this country have been enough impressed with their value to give them a trial. Possible reasons for this are the elaborate outfit required for certain of them, lack of knowledge of the various special exercises, and more than