1933. 8vo, pp. xx, 332; with 22 inserted plates, of which 20 are half-tone or x-ray illustrations, with two further diagrammatic plates (one in red and black), further copious half-tone illustrations and diagrams set within the text, totalling 118 illustrations; some occasional light soiling and marking, half-title and verso of final leaf a little browned; gutters slightly exposed in a couple of places; six pages of loosely inserted pencil notes with illustrations in a contemporary hand; evidence of previous book-label on front free endpaper with signs of abrasion; bound in the original green publisher’s cloth, boards ruled in blind, spine lettered and ruled in gilt, head and tail of spine lightly rubbed and bumped with minor nicks at tail, rear cover lightly creased; with ownership signature of Joan Chadwick-Smith on front free endpaper; a good copy. Fifth, enlarged edition, of a seemingly less well-known but important and popular contribution to the corpus of literature devoted to medical gymnastics and massage, and first published in 1917. As Goodall-Copestake notes in her preface ‘this book was first compiled during the Great War. The writer’s object then was to place a simple text-book in the hands of those qualifying themselves in the science and art of massage, in order that they might take their part in the relief of suffering at that time. Since then the progress of physical medicine in all its branches has gone forward every year, and it is necessary for the student to quality himself and herself more fully, the requirements of examiners being much greater than they were formerly’ (p. vii).
The work contains extensive chapters on the history of massage; tips for beginners wishing to be a ‘medical gymnast’ (i.e. massage therapist); details of massage manipulations and their physiological effects on the skin, muscles, circulation, lymph flow, nervous system, and metabolism; practical massage on all parts of the body from head to toe and heart to colon; and the use of massage for the re-education of muscles. The chapters on kinesiology, gymnastics, movement and exercises are generally based up on Pehr Henrik Ling’s famous Swedish system of gymnastics. Also included is a chapter on curvatures of the spine which are matched with dedicated exercise programmes which, with their emphasis on breathing and movement, are reminiscent of therapies used today, as well as the contemporaneous developments in schools of exercise such as yoga and Pilates.
The second part deals with ‘surgical conditions treated by massage and movements’ such as inflammation and wound healing, fractures, dislocations and deformities of the musculo-skeletal structures. The third part is dedicated to ‘medical conditions’ and their treatment with massage, from alimentary problems, diabetes and obesity, respiratory, neurological and circulatory diseases, to headaches, insomnia, and pregnancy. The book is lavishly illustrated with photographs, X-rays, half-tone illustrations and diagrams. Many of the pathological conditions shown in the images, such as rickets and scoliosis, are interesting from both a historical and medical point of view.
The first edition of The Theory and Practice of Massage and Medical Gymnastics was well reviewed in the Glasgow Medical Journal (No 89, 1918, p. 310) and the British Medical Journal (No 1, 1918, p. 430): ‘a sound and comprehensive handbook’, which ‘– as far as it is possible to do so in a book – also introduces the nurse and massage-pupil to the rudimentary knowledge of those conditions in the treatment of which she may be required to help the physician or surgeon’. A series of further editions followed (1919, 1920, 1926, and this in 1933), each with more illustrations and additions: the second edition added a chapter on the ‘after-treatment of war injuries’ (1919, p. vii), while the preface to this fifth edition notes that it has been ‘enlarged by the addition of notes on Kinesiology and also a fuller description of Remedial Exercises’ as taught by Dr Johan Arvedson, with additional illustrations for these exercises as well as depiction's’ of deformities. It is interesting to note that the chapter on rheumatic conditions was also rewritten for this edition, as Goodall-Copestake is known for one of the earliest detailed accounts of physical therapy in the treatment of rheumatism. A sixth edition was published in 1942, when the focus of attention for practitioners was once again those wounded in battle, and it contains a new chapter on war injuries including a section on the treatment of amputation stumps.
Beatrice Mary Goodall-Copestake (1877 - ?) was the other of ‘Massage as a Career for Women’ (1919) and was named an Honorary Fellow of the Chartered Society of Physiotherapy in 1949.