PAIN IN THE MUSCLES, OB MYALGIA. 439 



almost as much physical work in the course of the day as he does. When we see 

 a woman sewing it very seldom occurs to us that the muscular exertion requisite for 

 the performance of the act may, if carried too far, give rise to considerable pain and 

 suffering, yet, for all that, the hard-worked sempstress knows well enough what it 

 is to stitch, stitch, stitch, till her " eyes ache " with watching the needle, and the 

 muscles which move the eyeball are thoroughly weary. Again, pregnant women 

 often complain of the pain in the back resulting from the effort to keep about ali 

 day with the weight of an extra burden to support. Many ladies are familiar with 

 the severe pain known as a " cutting-out pain," the result of the unusual strain 

 thrown upon the muscles of the back in leaning over a table to cut out patterns. 

 The amount of work which ladies, in even the upper classes of society, will get 

 through in the course of the day and night is really something wonderful, and it is 

 no wonder that they occasionally suffer from pain and stiffness in their limbs. 

 Not very long ago a well-known physician was called up at three o'clock in the 

 morning to go and see a young lady who was suffering from excruciating pains in 

 her thighs and the calves of her legs. It was found on inquiry that she had been 

 to a ball, and had danced with great spirit for six consecutive hours, the only res' 

 which she had allowed herself being at supper. Such cases are not so uncommon as 

 might be supposed, although the suffering is seldom sufficient to induce the patient 

 to send for her doctor. 



Sometimes this pain in the muscles is produced by acts at first sight so trivial in 

 their nature, and in the amount of exertion which they require, that the relation of 

 cause and effect is very apt to be overlooked. We often enough talk of " laughing 

 till our sides acfie," and many people habitually suffer from soreness, pain, and 

 tenderness in the muscles of the chest and abdomen after a night spent with an 

 irresistibly comic actor, but the true cause is often ignored, and the sufferer not un- 

 frequently sends for the doctor under the impression that he has caught a bad cold ; 

 or that he is going to have an attack of pleurisy. 



We have said that pain in the muscles is commonly the result of over-exertion. 

 A person who is debilitated as the result of a long illness, or whose health is for any 

 reason below par is very apt to suffer in this way, although the absolute amount ot 

 work done may be very small. A twenty-mile walk may not be over-exertion for a 

 man in good physical condition, and he may feel none the worse for it, but, on the 

 other hand, a weakly woman may suffer intense pain in the muscles from sitting up 

 in bed for half an hour or so to take her meals. 



In some cases attacks of muscular pain have undoubtedly arisen from excessive 

 practice at the pianoforte. The performer commonly sits upright on a stool with- 

 out the least artificial support, of course, with the exception of the corset in women ; 

 both hands are in perpetual motion ; the body is moved from side to side according 

 to exigencies of time and tune ; the legs are used to work the pedals, and as singing 

 is often combined with the instrumental music, the muscles by which the chest is 

 moved are forcibly employed. 



Custom and training will enable a person to undergo without fatigue an amount 

 of work which he would otherwise find it impossible to accomplish. The well-tried 

 pedestrian can laugh at the stiffness which the sedentary student experiences when 



