When the Spine Curves: Treatments for Scoliosis
The History of Scoliosis
The 19th Century Debate on Clothing as a Cause of Scoliosis
| Throughout the 1800s, many physicians believed scoliosis was caused by tight-lacing (the wearing of corsets) and other fashionable clothing. In 1819, after studying his scoliosis patients, Dr. Robert Wallace Johnson found that tight-lacing impeded the normal growth of the spine. Many of his patients had disproportionate breasts, shoulder and hip unevenness, and legs that appeared to be of differing lengths. Russell T. Trall, a hydropathist or water cure doctor, also thought that his female patients developed spinal curves from wearing corsets. He believed that "long draggling dresses, heavy skirts, and multitudinous flounces" caused scoliosis as well.
Many other doctors studied their scoliosis patients and agreed that tight-lacing was responsible for the development of scoliosis in women. Corsets were restrictive to the hips, torso, and even shoulder blades. Lewis A. Sayre, an orthopedist, studied patients from upper and lower socioeconomic levels. He found that abnormal spinal development was not often seen in girls from lower income families. These girls did not wear corsets; instead, they carried bundles on their heads, which forced them to stand very straight. This balancing act, Sayre concluded, helped these girls develop healthy spines. |
23. Corset
circa 1900
Courtesy of the Costume and Textile
Collection,
Iowa State University |
24. Various styles of commercial braces
Pharmaceutical catalog of F.W. Braun and Company
circa 1903
Courtesy of Farrell-Beck, Jane. "Medical and
Commercial Supports for Scoliotic Patients,
1819-1935." Studies in Anatomy and
Technology Vol. XI No. 3 Winter
1995: 142-163. |
Despite the evidence identifying corsets as the cause of scoliosis in women, many doctors did not believe tight-lacing and other clothing had any influence on the development of scoliosis. J.K. Mitchell, a member of the Jefferson Medical College and editor of R.W. Bampfield's Essay on Curvatures and Diseases of the Spine - American edition, disagreed with other physicians; he claimed that more spinal curves occurred in girls who had never worn a corset. He believed that corsets helped young girls' spines develop normally by keeping their "weak muscles and bones" from curving, especially "when girls are weak and incapable of keeping themselves steadily erect."
British doctor, William Adams, also observed young female patients, noting that those wearing the tightest corsets had fewer cases of scoliosis than those wearing no corsets. Girls with looser corsets had a higher rate of scoliosis. Adams concluded that tight corsets encouraged normal spinal development.
The debate for and against the use of corsets continued through the end of the 19th century. No conclusions were drawn and no consensus reached by any community of physicians. |
 
25. Corsets for sale in the late 1800s
Sears, Roebuck Company Incorporated: cheapest supply house on earth... consumers
guide.
1897
|
