The Stryker frame.

THE care of paraplegics has always been a major nursing problem; many methods have been used, but most of these are difficult, complicated and time consuming. When, in 1937, an American, Dr. Homer Stryker of Michigan University, developed the Stryker frame he solved many of these nursing problems, and the U.S. Army and Naval hospitals proved its worth during the 1939-1945 world war. Today, American, British and other V.N. forces in Korea and Japan are using it with great success. Among the many problems which confront the nurse when looking after a paraplegic are the prevention of bedsores, hypostatic pneumonia, and venous thrombosis. The Stryker frame, while not wholly eliminating these complications, simplifies their management, and does away with the heavy labour associated with the nursing of a paraplegic in a plaster bed. Since its introduction, the frame has been found eminently suitable for, and has greatly simplified the nursing of, some severe accident cases and battle casualties; for example, extensive burns, large suppurating wounds, and patients with incontinence. The Stryker frame consists of eight principal parts (see next page).