ates 1C have shown that preheating with high frequency currents or hydrotherapy augments the functional capacity of skeletal muscle in man. This should be remembered whenever the restoration of strength is a major objective of the rehabilitation program.Deciding when measures aimed at preventing chronic invalidism can be introduced with safety and the speed with which the stress imposed by activity can be aug¬ mented are -key questions as yet answerable only in terms of clinical judgment. Deconditioning, chronic invalidism and reconditioning are all variants of that poorly defined and illusive quality known as physical fitness. A truly scientific attack on many problems of chronic invalidism and its prevention is linked inextricably with the development of objective methods of disability evaluation, of which only performance testing has received much attention. Until quantitative disability evaluation is a part of the routine physical assessment of the sick and disabled, specificity in the planning of rehabilitation programs is impossible and the efficacy of various forms of treatment cannot be determined. There is reason to believe that a judicious use of the classic procedures of physical medicine in combination with the newer technics of rehabilitation can accomplish more than either alone in the pre¬ vention and cure of chronic invalidism.
ABSTRACT OF DISCUSSIONQuestion : What does the spa have for the treatment of chronic invalidism ?Dr. F. A. Hellebrandt, Richmond, Va. : The spa is really no more or less than a rehabilitation center. Attention in