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Chainsaws are pretty scary. They’re loud and look dangerous.
When you add horror movies into the mix, they become even more terrifying.
But there’s another reason to fear chainsaws. It’s not just about cutting wood.
The original purpose of chainsaws is actually quite shocking. It has more to do with those horror movie scenes than you might think.
TikTok user @bootstheorangecat started a conversation with a video captioned, “POV: You record yourself before and after finding out why chainsaws were invented.”
(Warning: The TikTok video contains a swear word in the song.)
Almost a million views later, dozens of similar reaction videos popped up. People were horrified.
So, why were chainsaws really invented? It’s not what you’d expect.
According to the Scottish Medical Journal, “The prototype of the chain saw familiar today in the timber industry was pioneered in the late 18th Century by two Scottish doctors, John Airken and James Jeffray, for symphysiotomy and excision of diseased bone respectively. The chain hand saw, a fine serrated link chain which cut on the concave side, was invented around 1783–1785. It was illustrated in Aitken’s Principles of Midwifery or Puerperal Medicine (1785) and used by him in his dissecting room.”
Yes, it was a surgical tool. Used for much of the 19th century.
During the Civil War, it had medical applications. Hospitals used small handheld chainsaws for procedures like pelviotomy or symphysiotomy.
In simpler terms, symphysiotomy is an outdated surgical procedure. According to MedicineNet, it “has been used to effect an immediate dramatic increase in the size of the pelvic outlet to permit delivery of a baby. The cartilage of the area where the pubic bones come together (symphysis pubis) is surgically divided.”
Doctors would use these small chainsaws to cut through the joint holding a woman’s pelvis together. This revelation led to many horrified TikTok reactions.
And now you know. Even if you wish you didn’t.
@bootstheorangecat
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