Relation Between Creeping in Leprosy Patients and Lesions on the Extremities Together with Loss of Fingers (Report II)

Abstract

Many of those patients with leprosy who have been suffering from severe functional disorders in the lower extremities are mostly chronic cases affliated from the time before the various therapies of the present for leprosy were developed.
They also suffer from functional disorders of the upper extremities in many cases. Most of them, therefore, have to move about the room by creeping from one place to another.
Their creeping movements are usually performed by three activities, namely "crawling on all fours", "buttock-chafing", and "kneeling". In detailed observation of these actions of creeping, it was found that the muscular effort is concentrated abnormally in the knee, the buttock and the upper extremities in the actions of "crawling on all fours" and "buttock-chafing" because of the necessity of the auxiliary action of the hands. But, great muscular effort is concentrated in the knees while kneeling.
Based on such observations, studies were made on the relationship between the creeping action and the lesions in the four extremities together with loss of fingers.