Can YOU Guess What This Is?

 

I have had this unusual item for many years. I was helping a friend clean out her basement while helping her move.

 

I asked them if they knew how this item is used. He said he thought maybe it was a trainer for a horse to hang around the neck to help them get used to a lead rope around their neck. 

 

They didn't know what it was and said that it was in the house when they moved in. The house was a very old brick house 1930's maybe.

I have put this item out at my yard sales and asked many people what they thought it was. It wasn't until my yard sale this week that someone finally was able to tell me what this item is!

He said it was to help with hernias! Particularly groin hernias! He said his father and brother had to wear one. I asked him to demonstrate it on himself, so I took a picture. He said he had a hernia but by the time he had his hernia, that they had come up with a different solution / treatment for it.

I thought it was interesting that I have an antique medical collection being a nurse, so this will be an interesting addition. I want to sell the collection at some point, but it will be fun to make it an addition.

Aren't we glad that science has continued to make discoveries so that we don't have to deal with this type of thing! 

Have a blessed day!