Thursday 4 March 2010

Corsetry - medical benefits ?

While still on the hunt for a new Doris i have been looking more into corsetry and its background trying to find links and inspiration which i can use for my back brace designs.


Corsets are renowned for their negative impacts on the wearers health. This was partly due to the obsession with the size of the waist so what some wearers would go to extreme lengths when putting them on such as lying on the floor and having another person put a put on their back while pulling up the lacing. Corsetry has been blamed for many ailments including deformed spines/ribcages and compression of internal organs. However at the turn of the century some doctors produced a corset which was designed to support a woman figure without undue pressure.


There was also the introduction of ‘dance’ and ‘sports’ corsets which had more flexibility in its structure. Many doctors did speak out over their concerns about the more traditional rigid corsets but were faced with historical opinions that a woman needed support citing that evolution was harder on them – something which has since been disregarded much the same as we have dismissed the use of a corset in everyday life instead opting for a 2 piece structure.


The medical corset/back brace is almost in the opposite position. It has medical benefits to those with spinal problems but is very undesirable in everyday society. I believe that a rigid structured corset provids a very similar funcation as a back brace but had a negative health effect due to the extreams which the users could wear it .... so maybe it is a matter of control. Allowing flexability and adjustability which not giving the user too much 'fiddling' capabilities !?

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