PAIN IN THE MUSCLES, OB MYALGIA. 443 



of the town for the assemblies, dinner-parties, and picnics of the country. 

 Rest is often useless because it is insufficient Rest in an arm-chair, or on the 

 sofa, may do good, but it is usually inferior to rest in or on the bed. For a 

 delicate woman to get much benefit from rest, or to obtain relief from muscular 

 pains, she should retire to her bedroom at two o'clock every day, and lie 

 on her back for a good hour or more with no other companion than a readable 

 book. If there is much constitutional debility another rest may be required 

 about seven in the evening. 



Where rest of the whole body is unattainable, it may perhaps be possible to rest 

 the affected part. Any plan of treatment by which we rest, and at the same time 

 support, the painful muscles will prove advantageous. "We all know what relief a 

 well-made corset or waist-belt will sometimes afl'ord, when the pain or weakness 

 affects the chest or abdomen, or the muscles of the back. 



The fact that " stays " afford a considerable amount of artificial support to the 

 body is easily shown by the consideration of a few simple facts. Women can, as a 

 rule, sit upright considerably longer than men, she retaining her graceful position 

 long after he has taken to lolling back in his arm-chair, or to exhibiting the soles of 

 his boots on the sofa. Then again it is well known that ladies who have once 

 accustomed themselves to the use of stays have the greatest difficulty in dispensing 

 with their support, and that spasm or cramp is not unfrequently experienced in some 

 of the erect- keeping muscles when they are laid aside. A person, therefore, without 

 any artificial support is more obnoxious to muscular pain in the trunk than one who 

 does not attempt to keep the body upright without assistance. Whilst recommend- 

 ing the use of stays for the relief of muscular pains about the body it must be 

 distinctly understood that we are not advocating or defending the practice of tight 

 lacing. 



In addition to the use of stays, or in cases in which they fail to give the requisite 

 relief, a good stout plaster applied well over the seat of pain and its immediate 

 neighbourhood may prove more successful. It is necessary that the plaster, to do 

 any good, should be large, and that it should be evenly applied. In some cases 

 where a single plaster has proved useless, two or three applied one on the top of 

 another have effected a speedy cure. 



The importance of affording artificial assistance to parts that are subjected to any 

 considerable strain is very generally recognised. We often see navvies who have to 

 wheel heavy barrow-loads of earth, place a tight strap round the wrist, and there can 

 be no doubt that they derive considerable help from this simple expedient. In like 

 manner washerwomen, who have to do much wringing of clothes, apply a piece of 

 ribbon to the same place and for the same purpose. Labourers who have much 

 standing- work employ a belt, and the pedestrian not unfrequently ties a handkerchief 

 tightly round his waist to prevent "stitch in the side." Swimmers sometimes use a 

 tight garter round the calf with the view of warding off cramp. 



For effecting a permanent cure, in addition to the local measures, steps must be 

 taken to improve the general health. The benefit which may be derived from 

 a judicious change of air and scene cannot be over-estimated. It is a commonly- 

 received opinion, and in the main a correct one, that the change, to be of service, 



