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PREFACE
logical readjustment of the paralysed the introduction of sport and vocational training
of the paralysed have proved invaluable for their social re-integration into community life.
This book is the product of about 30 years' personal experience of more than 4,000
paraplegics and tetraplegics treated at Stoke Mandeville. In this work, my previous
research on neurophysiological and clinical problems since 1923 in Breslau and from
1939-43 in Oxford has helped me immensely towards the understanding of the many
aspects of the physiology and pathology in spinal man.
It was not the purpose of this book to describe in detail all the various surgical and
other procedures employed as these can easily be obtained from existing specialized
text books, but rather to evaluate the most debatable procedures carried out on trau–
matic paraplegics and tetraplegics. Therefore, only certain specific procedures introduced
at Stoke Mandeville have been described in detail.
In planning this book, special attention had to be paid to the details of the multi–
farious and diverse physical and psychological effects which spinal injuries exert on the
organism. Therefore, all these aspects had to be organized and moulded into an homo–
geneous and meaningful pattern.
While this book gives an account of my own concept of comprehensive management
of paraplegics and tetraplegics, the experiences and publications of other workers in this
field are widely mentioned and discussed in relation to our own experiences.
I recognize that no book on paraplegia can be complete or perfect, but I trust that this
book will be of interest and guidance to everyone concerned with the treatment and
social readjustment of spinal paraplegics and tetraplegics.
I have been most fortunate in having a team of enthusiastic, loyal and hard working
medical and para-medical co-workers and many volunteers with me throughout the
years. Various research projects have been carried out co-operatively with some of my
medical colleagues, mentioned individually in the text of this book, and my gratitude
to them is deeply felt. I am equally grateful to those colleagues of this and other hospitals
as well as to members of the Department of Physiology in Oxford, who co-operated in
carrying out special techniques in which they were experts.
The development of the Stoke Mandeville Spinal Centre to its national status would
not have been possible without the co-operation of the various administrative authorities
concerned and I would like to place my sincere appreciation to them on record.
To Else, my wife, I am deeply grateful for her enduring patience, encouragement and
active help in my work.
I had the good fortune to have Joan Scruton as lay administrator of the National
Spinal Injuries Centre at my side from the beginning of my work, who, with her calm
efficiency and loyalty, shared a great deal of the administrative burden with me. She and
Kate Lambrechts have been of indispensable help in preparing the manuscript in its
various stages, and I owe much to their devotion and accurate work.
