Surg. [COUNTER- 6: cf. F. contre-extension.] ‘The pulling or holding of the upper part of a broken limb, or of a dislocated joint, towards the trunk, while extension is being employed with the lower part’ (Mayne, Expos. Lex., 1860); see EXTENSION 1 b.
1875. Bedford, Sailor’s Pocket-bk., viii. (ed. 2), 303. By extension and counter-extension by jack towels or sheets.
So Counter-extend v., -ing vbl. sb.
1656. [? J. Sergeant], trans. T. White’s Peripat. Inst., 34. Bodies would not be counter-extended with such a Magnitude.
1874. Knight, Dict. Mech., s.v. Counter-extension Aparatus, It consists of … a counter-extending band attached to the bed-head.
