Help for Rheumatism

Doctors' knotted brows have done little for the knotted joints and twisted muscles of advanced rheumatism; but last week doctors reported on two methods of relieving the early stage of the disease. Both reports were given at the Buffalo meeting of the New York State Medical Society.

Vitamin E. Dr. Charles LeRoy Steinberg of Rochester told how he used Vitamin E on 50 cases of muscular rheumatism. Of these, 30 were given the natural vitamin in wheat-germ oil; 20 were given a concentrate of the vitamin. Of all the cases, 48 were "completely relieved." The synthetic vitamin, reported Dr. Steinberg, is better than wheat-germ oil, for the latter is hard to stomach. Vitamin E, said the doctor, is "a great fat preserver," and perhaps helps to grease connective tissue, the way Vitamin A helps to keep smooth and moist the mucous tissues of the body.

Oxygen. Five years ago, Anesthetist John Henry Evans of Buffalo began to inject oxygen under the skin of swollen joints, to dull pain. He discovered that the oxygen often "has beneficial effects" on early arthritis and other inflammations of nerves, muscles, joints. Said Dr. Evans: "Within 24 hours . . . after injection . . . the local temperature drops; the redness disappears; the swelling is reduced, and the tissues become much less sensitive to pressure."

Dr. Evans believes that chronic arthritis can often be prevented if oxygen is injected into the joints when they first begin to swell. The oxygen, he claims, has a threefold action: 1) it seems to act as a buffer between inflamed cells, separating them, opening lymph channels for drainage, and reducing pressure; 2) it probably kills certain types of bacteria; 3) it may neutralize poisons and stimulate local circulation of blood.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.