Head Massaging The
Sources:
Papers On Health
This is so important in many cases of neuralgia,
headache, and eye troubles, that we here describe it. The brow is first
gently stroked upward from behind, with the palm of the hand, while
the back of the patient's head rests against the chair or other
support. The sides of the head are then similarly treated, using a hand
for each side simultaneously. Then the back of the head is stroked
upward also. After this is wel
done, the top of the head is stroked
similarly from front to back. Then the whole head, except the forehead,
is rubbed briskly but lightly with the tips of the fingers with a
scratching motion, but not using the nails. This is best done piece
by piece, taking care to do every part in turn. This treatment may be
often alternated with the cooling of the head with cold towels, with
the best results. In all cases of head uneasiness and neuralgia it is
invaluable (see Eyes, Paralysis of; Eyes, Squinting; Massage).
Frequently a small part of the head will be found where the rubbing
with the finger tips is particularly soothing. Special attention, of
course, should be given to this, as it is nature's guide to relief. But
if pain and uneasiness result from the rubbing, it should be stopped,
and some other cure substituted. Understand that what you have to do is
to gently press the returning stream of venous blood on in its course
from the weighted brow back over the top of the head. Rub very slowly
and deliberately, as the stream you are affecting flows slowly. The
frequency with which you change from the rubbing to the cold cloth, and
from that again to the rubbing, will depend a good deal on the heat
that you find persistent in the head, but usually you may rub two
minutes and cool during one minute. More or less relief will come in a
very short time, and in ten minutes or a quarter of an hour there will
be a very great change for the better.
We had a very curious case lately. A little girl was brought to us one
morning who had been quite blind of one eye for a fortnight. We tried
the eye with a rather powerful lens, but she could see nothing. That
eye had a squint, which was also of a fortnight's standing. The pupil
of the eye was dilated, but nothing else seemed wrong. The girl was
affected with worms in some degree, but otherwise healthy. We gave her
head a massaging, such as we have been describing, for some ten minutes
or so. She was given the first of four or five doses of santolina next
morning, which her mother said she threw up and some bilious matter
besides. She was brought to us an hour or so after, and we found that
she had forgotten which had been the blind eye. She now saw perfectly
with both, and the squint was gone. We had not tried whether the
rubbing had had the curative effect before the santolina was given, or
whether it was after the latter that the sight was restored, but we are
disposed to think that the squinting and blindness both had given way
to the head's improvement by the massaging.