Exercise Cure

Long, skinny necks and scrawny chests have long been noted as physical characteristics of epileptics. Many epileptics also have small hearts and underdeveloped blood vessels. But until Drs. Temple Sedgwick Fay and Michael Scott of Philadelphia's Temple University began to study these "grotesque deviations" no physician had ever thought of correlating epileptic convulsions with general physical development. Last week, at the Chicago meeting of the American Psychiatric Association, Drs. Fay and Scott reported a brilliant contribution to the baffling problem of epilepsy.

Several years ago, they had a hunch that the immature hearts and blood vessels of epileptics did not supply enough oxygen to their brains. Hence the convulsions. This theory fitted in with the general fact that many epileptics do not have any brain abnormalities which might be considered responsible for the seizures. To test their hunch, the doctors placed 14 epileptic children under the care of a coach, who helped them develop "athlete's heart" through a strenuous program of rowing, running, basketball, football. At the same time the patients were placed on the traditional low-water diet, to dehydrate their brains and allow a greater volume of blood within their skulls. Within two months, all but one of the patients were completely free from attacks.

One child of nine, while engaged in his "daily task of rowing a large boat one quarter of a mile," dislocated his right hip, was forced to remain in a cast for six weeks. His epileptic seizures returned. But deep breathing and arm exercises helped him while he was bedridden, and when he recovered, he went back to his training with no further attacks.

Another nine-year-old boy became "athletically inclined." When he reached high school, he became captain of the football and basketball teams. After almost seven years without attacks, he was taken out on a high-school party to celebrate a successful football season, and broke his training by gorging himself on pop, ice cream, and hot dogs. Within five days, in spite of his well-developed physique, he had three epileptic seizures. A return to his low-water diet ended his attacks, and he has had none since.

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