Page:Personal beauty how to cultivate and preserve it in accordance with the laws of health (1870).djvu/41

 certainty if proper care is taken during the period of growth.

One of the most common blemishes is that of being "round-shouldered"—stooping forward with the upper third of the spinal column. This destroys the contour of the neck and the pose of the head. It throws the shoulders upward and forward, entirely depriving them of their natural, graceful slope. The chest is also hollowed, and the swell of the breast is thereby lost. Sometimes this habit is a consequence of debility or disease. It then demands special medical treatment. For ordinary cases exercise with light dumb-bells, and a careful avoidance of continuing long in stooping positions, will suffice. Shoulder-braces are largely sold, designed to hold the shoulders back. They are of value, but only as subordinate aids. What is wanted is to strengthen the muscles of the back, and qualify them to do their duty without fatigue and without assistance.

There is a disfiguring and painful disease called curvature of the spine. Thousands of women in this country suffer the agony of the rack, are hindered from all active usefulness or pleasure, and are well-nigh deformed by this terrible complaint. It frequently arises from some imprudence in "getting up" after a confinement, sometimes from an injury, and very often from neglect of health at the epoch of change in young girls. It undermines their health