Letter from Franklin Delano Roosevelt to Dr. Egleston Regarding his Polio Attack

-2- - 1922 I began swimming and found that this exercise seemed better adapted than any other because all weight was removed from the legs and I was able to move the legs in the water far better than I had expected. Since that time, i.e. for the last two years, I have as far as possible in connection with my work and other duties, carried out practically the same treatment with the result that the muscles have increased in power to a remarkable extent and the improvement in the past six months has been even more rapid than at any previous time. I still wear braces, of course, because the quadriceps are not yet strong enough to bear my weight. One year ago I was able to stand in fresh water without braces when the water was up to my chin. Sir months ago I could stand in water up to the top of my shoulders and today can stand in water just level with my armpits. This is a very simple method for me of determining how iast the quadriceps are coming back. Aside from these muscles the waist muscles on the right side are still weak and the outside muscles on the right leg have strengthened so much more than the inside muscles that they pull my right foot outward. I continue corrective exercise for all the muscles. To sum up I would give you the following "Don'ts." Don't use heavy massage but use light massage rubbing always towards the heart. Don't let the patient over=exercise any muscle or get tired. Don't let the patient feel cold, especially the legs, feet or any other part affected. Progress stops entirely when the legs or feet are cold. Don't let the patient get too fat. The following treatment is so far the best judging from my own experience and that of hundreds of other cases which I have studied. 1. Gentle exercises especially for the muscles which seem to be worst affected. 2. Gentle skin rubbing--not muscle kneading--bearing in mind that good circulation is a prime requisite. 3. Swimming in warm water--lots of it. 4. Sunlight--all the patient can get, especially direct sunlight on the affected parts. It would be ideal to lie in the sun all day with nothing on. This is difficult to accomplish but the nearest approach to it is a bathing suit. 5. Belief on the patient's part that the muscles are coming back and will eventually regain recovery of the affected parts. There are cases known in Norway where adults have taken the disease and not been able to walk until after a lapse of 10 or even 12 years. I hope that your patient has not got a very severe case. They all differ, of course, in the degree in which the parts are affected, If braces are necessary there is a man in New York whose name I will send you if you wish when I get back to New York, who makes remark- able light braces of duraluminum. My first braces of steel weighed 7 lbs. apiece--my new ones weigh only 4 lbs. apiece. Remember that braces are only for the convenience of the patient in getting around- - a leg in a brace does not have a chance for muscle development. This muscle development must come through exercise when the brace is not on--such as swimming, etc. I trust that your own daughter is wholly well again. William Egleston, M. D. Very truly yours, Hartsville, S. C. (Signed) Franklin D. Roosevelt