The Lame Prince

Occupying the presidential suite at Walter Reed Army Hospital outside Washington last week was a wide-eyed little boy born to palace luxury but a newcomer to the miracles of modern medicine. The patient: Prince Mashhur ibn Saud, 3 1/2, the 17th and favorite son of Arabia's King Saud (see NATIONAL AFFAIRS). The boy had captivated welcoming crowds with his grave salutes--but they were given with his left hand. The little prince's right side is partly paralyzed, allowing him only limited use of the arm, and he limps on a right leg that is drawn up at the heel.

Led by Commandant Leonard D. Heaton, half a dozen of the hospital's department heads worked over Prince Mashhur. Their conclusion: he had suffered a brain injury at his birth. The result is akin to cerebral palsy, though the child has no tremor. Abnormal nerve impulses to muscles in the right leg have shortened the heel cord (Achilles' tendon); its shortness forces the prince to walk on the toes and ball of the foot.

Experts in physical medicine were prompt with their prescription: short, below-the-knee leg braces attached to special, high-top shoes to be worn in daytime, longer braces (up to the thigh) to be worn at night. The Army hospital prosthesis department rushed to make two pairs of each type of brace. At a downtown Washington shoe store, doctors supervised the fitting of four pairs of special shoes (children's size 9E), expected to last the growing boy four months. Four more pairs, size 9 1/2, were supplied for the next four months. As the boy's feet grow, Saud's palace physician can order bigger sizes by mail. Doctors hope that braces and shoes, with massage and exercises, will eventually make the prince's leg close to normal.

As for the arm, physical-medicine experts considered Mashhur too young for formal retraining exercises, but encouraged him to try to use his right (which he can do with a little effort), including right-handed salutes.

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