Truer words were never spoken...

Via Modern Mechanix, an ad from 1938:

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Does this make you think of something other than a medical ad? Maybe it's the whole thing about the "human hand" being placed on the groin as a truss.

Actually, the best "support" for a "rupture" (a.k.a. an inguinal hernia) these days is some polypropylene mesh sewn into place properly as either a sheet and/or plug to hold the "rupture" in. Back in 1938, the best "support" was some conjoined tendon sewn to the appropriate ligament, the most common of which when I was a resident, back in the days right before mesh became popular, was the Bassini repair, although the Cooper's ligament repair and Shouldice repair were also taught.

These days, with tension-free repairs done using mesh, hernia repairs are generally not that big a deal. We should be grateful that they are no longer done the way that they were attempted hundreds of years ago:

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Now that looks painful.

Clearly, though, surgeons understood even centuries ago the importance of the Trendelenburg position.

More like this

In the medieval picture, what are the two guys trying to do? Is that a knife the large guy is holding? Is he going to try to cut off a hernia?

Duct Tape.

What else is needed?

fusilier
James 2:24

Does it make me think of something other than a medical ad? Hell yes.

"Rupture" is assonant with "eruption," while the ad shows a man reaching toward his unclothed groin. Then they drop huge text into the middle talking about the "Brooks device" and its resemblance to a human hand--and they send you the information in a plain envelope! Good Lord.

Oh yes, and the phrase "ease, comfort, and happiness."