De Medicina

Celsus, Aulus Cornelius

Celsus, Aulus Cornelius. De Medicina. Spencer, Walter George, translator. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University; London, England: W. Heinemann Ltd, 1935-1938.

21 It is very well known that the knee is put out externally and internally and backwards. Many have written that it does not slip out forwards; and this may be very near the truth, for the knee-cap

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is there right in front and holds the head of the tibia in place. Meges, however, has recorded a case in which he replaced a knee which had slipped forwards. In cases affecting the knee-joint the sinews can be extended by the same means as I have described for the thigh. And when it has slipped out backwards, as described above, a round ball of some kind is placed on the ham, and when the leg is bent up over it, the knee slips back again. In the other cases it is to be replaced by the surgeon's hands while the bones are being drawn apart in opposite directions.

22 The ankle can be dislocated in all fought directions. When it slips inwards, the sole of the foot is turned outwards; when outwards, the contrary sign is exhibited. If the ankle is dislocated forwards, the broad sinew behind is hard and tense, and in those cases manipulation is required; if backwards, the heel is almost hidden and the sole is elongated. But this is also replaced by manipulation, the foot and leg first being stretched in opposite directions. And after this kind of accident also, the patient should stay for a long while in because, lest the ankle, which sustains the whole weight of the body, should give way and again be displaced if the sinews have not gained strength enough for bearing the weight. At first low shoes should be worn, so that the ankle may not be injured by tight lacing.