Traction and Hot Fomentations for Osteo-Arthritis.

Editor's note: From its first issue in 1900 through to the present day, AJN has unparalleled archives detailing nurses' work and lives over more than a century. These articles not only chronicle nursing's growth as a profession within the context of the events of the day, but they also reveal prevailing societal attitudes about women, health care, and human rights. Today's nursing school curricula rarely include nursing's history, but it's a history worth knowing. To this end, From the AJN Archives highlights articles selected to fit today's topics and times.In this month's article, from the May 1925 issue, nurse Ellen G. Dawson from Evanston Hospital in Illinois presents three case studies as evidence for a new use for immobilizing traction: the treatment of osteoarthritis. The protocol includes the use of traction for days or weeks, hot fomentations (poultices) applied to the skin over the painful joint, and a body cast (for back pain) or leg cast (for knee pain) worn for an extended period afterward. If the joint pain was severe, a lotion made from tinctures of opium and arnica, witch hazel, and lead water was also applied. The author notes, "We could cite case after case, with varying lengths of time, where the results have been equally gratifying."Today, nurses are involved in more formal arthritis research. In this issue, So-Hyun Park and Shiela M. Strauss examine the impact of arthritis on recommended physical activity in their original research article, "Arthritis-Related Functional Limitations and Inadequate Physical Activity Among Female Adult Cancer Survivors."