How delivery can affect the newborn’s spine and limbs—and what doctors do to prevent it.
In Birth Injuries of the Child, Ehrenfest explains how breech labor and certain maneuvers can risk spinal and nerve injuries, as well as damage to the legs and hips. The text covers mechanisms, possible outcomes, and the care that follows from observed cases, offering historical insight into obstetric practice.
- Learn how lateral traction, torsion, and hyperextension during birth can injure the newborn’s spine and spinal cord.
- See how breech deliveries and the way the shoulders and head are handled relate to arm, neck, and leg injuries.
- Understand different kinds of spinal and nerve injuries, including how they present and why some injuries might be overlooked at first.
- Explore practical considerations for prevention, diagnosis, and early management in the delivery room.
Ideal for readers interested in the history of obstetrics, birth trauma, and how early 20th‑century medical texts describe and address these injuries.