What Is The Rest Cure?

The patients were asked to remain in bed from six weeks to two months. For the first four to five weeks the patient is not permitted to sit up, sew, write, read or be involved in any motion. Patients were encouraged to be fed by a nurse. The use of massage was used by the nurses daily and they would have many visits by the Doctor. The patient is to have an atmosphere of quiet, order and control. The result at first is a sense of relief and hopefully a disappearance of thier nervous symptoms. It is always important when on the Rest Cure that no one but the Doctor talks of the patinet's illness. Him and him alone can speak to the patients about how sick they are, what thier pains are and how close they are to recovering.

Who Founded The Rest Cure?

Silas Weir Mitchell http://www.whonamedit.com/doctor.cfm/959.html

"The moral world of the sick-bed explains in a measure some of the things that are strange in daily life, and the man who does not know sick women does not know women." Dr. Weir

A Look Back At The Rest Cure

http://www.amtamassage.org/journal/winter03_journal/alookback.htm

Figure 1. Massage of the arm, as in the Rest Cure, c. 1890

Figure 2. Massage of the abdomen, as in the Rest Cure, c. 1890

Figure 3. Electricity used to restore vitality, via Electreat device, c. 1920

Figure 4. Massage of the leg, as in the Rest Cure, c. 1890