Hippocratic bench
Ancient traction device for bone setting and dislocation reduction.
Last updated
It was a lever-based system using a wooden framework, ropes, pulleys, and sometimes a windlass to apply sustained force.[1][2] The traction device known as the Hippocratic bench takes its name from the Greek physician Hippocrates (c. 370 BCE), who is frequently called the "Father of Medicine."[3]
Quick Facts
- Inventor
- Hippocrates (c. 460 BC–380 BC)
- Field
- Orthopedics; Ancient Medicine
- Type
- Lever-based traction system
- Materials
- Wooden framework
- ropes
- pulleys
- windlass
Facts from the source article.
How it changed
The device generated sustained tension to overcome muscle spasms and realign dislocated joints or fractured bones.[2] For dislocated shoulders or hips, the traction overcame muscle resistance to maneuver the joint back into position.[4] Within the Hippocratic Corpus, a compilation of ancient Greek medical writings, one finds thorough accounts of traction methods that are similar to those of the bench.[3] Those writings specify procedures for adjusting bones and joints that correspond closely with what the bench was designed to do.[3]
For broken femurs or tibias, the device provided a steady pulling force to bring the fractured bone ends into alignment prior to immobilization.[4] It remains uncertain exactly when the bench was invented, and whether Hippocrates created it or only recorded its application.[3] Modern orthopedic traction equipment traces its lineage back to the Hippocratic bench as an early forerunner.[4]
References
- Wikipedia, "Hippocratic bench" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Fracture", MedlinePlus (U.S. National Library of Medicine) (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Hippocratic bench" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "The History of Spinal Surgery", Orthosports; "A History of Medicine: Primitive and Ancient Medicine (Volume I)", Dover Publications, 2012, p. 16 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Hippocratic bench" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Ancient Orthopedics: From Hippocrates to the Modern Era", Journal of Graduate Medical Education, December 2019; Gokhale, Sandeep M.; Sharma, K.K., "Historical Aspects of Spinal Manipulation and Traction: From Ancient Greece to the Modern Era", Spine, October 2014, p. S1–S7 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Hippocratic bench" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Gokhale, Sandeep M.; Sharma, K.K., "Historical Aspects of Spinal Manipulation and Traction: From Ancient Greece to the Modern Era", Spine, October 2014, p. S1–S7; "A History of Medicine: Primitive and Ancient Medicine (Volume I)", Dover Publications, 2012, p. 16; Gokhale, Sandeep M.; Sharma, K.K., "Historical Aspects of Spinal Manipulation and Traction: From Ancient Greece to the Modern Era", Spine, October 2014, p. S1–S7; Gokhale, Sandeep M.; Sharma, K.K., "Historical Aspects of Spinal Manipulation and Traction: From Ancient Greece t en.wikipedia.org
Each numbered sentence above was checked against the source it cites before publication. Sentences citing Wikipedia adapt text from the English Wikipedia article Hippocratic bench (contributors), used under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is available under the same licence. Other sources were used for facts only; no text or images are copied from them.
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Sources
Compiled from Wikipedia and the sources listed below. Text from Wikipedia is available under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is adapted from it.
- Wikipedia: Hippocratic bench (CC BY-SA 4.0).
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