Identifier: 54731110R.nlm.nih.gov
Title: Personal hygiene and home nursing : a practical text for girls and women for home and school use
Year: 1919 (1910s)
Authors: Lippitt, Louisa C. (Louisa Christiana), author
Subjects: Hygiene Home Nursing
Publisher:
Contributing Library: U.S. National Library of Medicine
Digitizing Sponsor: Open Knowledge Commons, U.S. National Library of Medicine

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than men. Irregularity of habits, weak-ness of the abdominal muscles, and unwise methods of dressingalso tend to increase constipation in women. The old are likelyto be constipated because of their lower vitality, weakness of themuscles in the abdomen and intestinal walls, lack of exercise, andthe small amount of food they take. Constipation is sometimes caused by the fact that the stomachand intestines have sagged down out of place. Normally thestomach lies up close to the angle formed by the ribs and more tothe left side of the body than to the right. The large intestine,or colon, in which the waste matter from food is stored, beginson the right side of the abdomen, where the appendix is, andextends up the right side to a point under the hver where it isattached to the rear wall of the abdominal cavity by ligaments.After making a bend it crosses the abdomen just below the stomachand well above the umbiUcus (navel) and is attached by ligaments 41 42 Personal Hygiene and Home Nursing
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Dr. A. P. Evans Fig. 19. Radiograph showing position of large intestine. The transverse colonwhich should run across the upper part of the abdominal cavity has sagged downuntil at a it lies within the pelvic cavity. At b the descending colon is kinked sharplyand is adherent to the transverse colon. to the left wall of the abdominal cavity. Then it bends again andgoes down the left side of the abdomen to the rectum. The Constipation 43 rectum is S-shaped, having folds and pockets which hold the sub-stance deposited in them. When the stomach and intestine are held in place, the feces(waste matter of the bowels) can pass through the turns in theintestine; but when for any reason they sink out of place and thebends in the intestine are intensified, it becomes difficult for thefeces to pass through the intestine. A condition of constipationthen follows. A diagnosis of this condition can often be made by examinationof the general posture and shape of the abdomen, but such adiagnosis should

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