Tricycling as an aid in treatment by movement, and as a means of carrying out resistance-exercise / by Martin Siegfried ; translated by Louis Elkind.

  • Siegfried, Martin.
Date:
[1900]
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Tricycling as an aid in treatment by movement, and as a means of carrying out resistance-exercise / by Martin Siegfried ; translated by Louis Elkind. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

    17/22 (page 15)
    I shall in another place give a full explanation of this view as well as a description regarding the use of a number of apparatuses of different construction: here I must confine myself to a brief description of the observations which were made in the course of treating, at the Moabit Municipal Hospital, two patients who suffered from an affection of the heart and who were for a long period subjected to resistance-gymnastics on the tricycle. As the working of a tricycle, weighted with 150 kilogrammes (330 lbs), on a smooth level surface and in the absence of opposing winds, gives, according to my estimate, a resistance of only 0*3 — 0*5 kilogrammes1), therefore the amount of resistance-exercise can be measured according to the estimate just mentioned. As the rhythmical movements of the thighs cause the blood to flow in the direction of the lower extremities, patients who suffer from an affection of the heart, and who, on account of difficulty of breathing, cyanosis, weakness and other complaints are quite unable to walk, must, if my observations are correct, experience a sense of subjective relief after being placed on the tricycle, which is first moved passively, and should, by a course of treatment, gain an improvement of the symptoms, which can objectively be shown, and an increased capacity for work. For the purpose of observing the effect of these procedures I have compiled tables which contain: 1. The length of each tread-crank. From this is ascertained the frequency of the movements of the legs in passive exercise, and the measure of the lever strength which the patient has to make use of in pushing down the pedal in active exercise. 2. The number of the pedal rotations (P. R.) a minute, that is to say the celerity of the movements. 3. The number of minutes during which the movements are carried out without interruption, that is to say the duration of each period of the exercise. 4. The number of the pulse beats \ before and after each part of 5. The number of the acts of respiration J the exercise. 6. The length of the intervals taken for rest between the different parts of the exercise. 7. The temperature of the air, condition of the weather, time, locality, kind of gymnastic (whether active or passive, whether worked by the feet or by the feet and hands, whether the feet are secured to the pedals or otherwise, and so on). As the exercises are always conducted on level cemented paths and under protection from opposing winds, the external resistance produced by friction and air resistance may be regarded as constant. The filling in of the different divisions of the table renders possible an exceedingly carefully conducted course of exercise and a complete control of its effect. If all the preparations are done with the necessary quietude and slowness, the patient having been raised to the saddle of the machine or mounted to it by way of a wooden-step of suitable form and height, there ensues, in the majority of cases in which the pulse is too rapid and the breathing difficult, the remarkable phenomenon of the action of the heart becoming less rapid during the exercise, !) »Zur Mechanik und Physiologic der Cyklistik«. Deutsche medicinische Wochenschrift 1899 No. 33.