Injuries Books

the book is concise, clear and easy to read. Great for reference. Did not regret getting this book.

9/11/08 The VHS 's cautions should lessen spine injuries just by virtue of players and coaches emphasizing these cautions..The VHS is what it promises to be, "only up to and inclusive of prehospital care (removing garments and helments of the injured)"..Total approval of the VHS would have been had it included even minimal procedures of MRI & O/T and P/T , once it displayed how to remove garments and helmet of an athlete at the hospital .

Not only does this book provide the nutrition knowledge necessary for a sports dietitian, it also gives a review of exercise physiology which is a definite necessity in the sports nutrition world.

An excellent reference guide for sports related and everyday injuries. Rather than hand my wallet over to chiropractors I have used this guide to heal myself to health by doing the simple exercises as illustrated in the diagrams. All parts of the body are covered. A must for all gracefully aging jocks and jockettes!

This is a great book for those who seek for a orthopaedic view in sport medicine. Each part of the body is studied, including physical exam, treatment of injuries and return to activity. A good book for the physician improve the musculoskeletal medicine. Although, the book have short information about training, nutrition and supplements.

As a physical therapist, I have found this book to be an excellent reference for my practice in a outpatient orthopedic rehabilitation setting in which my colleagues consist of athletic trainers and sports medicine physicians. I think that this book covers many important areas of the field of sports medicine and working with athletes of all backgrounds. As a recent graduate I have turned to this book many times for gaining extra information to support my clinical decisions regarding the rehab of the athletes which pass through our clinics. This book is a great asset to any sports medicine professional's library as it has clear, concise information regarding several topics and situations which are usually not covered within the curriculum of professional education in the field of physical therapy.

Review Intentions

My review is intended to give potential readers guidance as to what they might gain from reading this book. There are many different professions that can benefit from the information provided, although the compiling author had clinical neuropsychologists and psychologists in mind. I encourage anyone interested in sports, medicine, and sports related injuries to read some, or all, of this book, but note, not everyone will enjoy it due to the background knowledge necessary for understanding.

Style and Prose Critique

For the most part, the book is written in a conversational tone, which allowed me to get through some of the more technical sections with ease. The book is structured much like a review article, meaning it contains information from a broad range of studies and authors, mainly focusing on mild traumatic brain injuries (MTBI) and concussions. I liked the use of various authors to write about different aspects a neuropsychologist might face when entering the realm of sports neuropsychology.

Content Discussion

The book is broken down into five main parts, each of which is broken down into chapters with more specific examples and explanations. The first part gives a basic history of sports in which head injuries historically appear. It also explains the need for study and management of sports related concussions. The author gives an objective view of pros and cons working with athletes and athletic teams. In this section, he encourages each neuropsychologist to carefully examine his or her motives for pursuing this specific field. As a whole, this part is interesting and gives a good background for the rest of the book; however, much of the historical information is not pertinent to current applications and might seem useless to some readers.

The second part of the book is by far the most technical. The intended reader should have no difficulty understanding the basic physiological and scientific information presented. This section tackles the difficult issue of defining what constitutes a concussion, the epidemiology of concussions, and clinically applying this knowledge in the sports arena. What I like best about this section is the author's use of sports jargon. For example, William B. Barr writes, "The terms `having one's bell rung' or receiving a `ding' are sports expressions used to describe when an athlete has received a relatively severe blow to the head" (Echemendía, p. 89). I've heard these terms used all my life playing football and rugby, and not once have I stopped and thought how we can dismiss what is potentially a serious brain injury with something as simple as a colloquial phrase. Some of the more important questions raised in this section are the cause and effect, both short and long-term, of MTBI on kids as well as adults. Some studies provide evidence to answer these questions, but for the most part, the scientific and medical communities know little about how concussions are caused (traditional versus rotational forces), and the effects of concussions. Evidence has shown that there are lower concussive thresholds for successive impacts, and that second-impact syndrome could have devastating consequences later in life ranging from cognitive impairment to even Alzheimer's. This section also provides the reader with information on how to assess MTBI on the "sideline," and what the guidelines for "return-to-play" should be.

The third part of the book aims to aid the neuropsychologist in starting and maintaining MTBI testing programs including elementary school, middle school, high school, college, and professional level athletes. I like the idea that these testing programs can be implemented in schools to educate and involve a majority of young athletes and parents that may not know anything about MTBI and the risks to which young athletes are exposed. I think more than just neuropsychologists can benefit from reading this section. For these programs to be initiated, public officials need to be convinced of the dangers of MTBI before any of them agree to spend money on a comprehensive and potentially expensive program. The author might have added advice as to presenting this information to those that might not fully grasp the physiological and developmental importance of the brain and its functions. Unfortunately, I think navigating the political or social community is a necessary evil in which the average neuropsychologist will have little to no experience.

The fourth section is specific to computerized neuropsychological test batteries. As a non-neuropsychologist I found this section to be the least useful or informative to me. Multiple tests are given including the ImPACT Neuropsychological Test Battery, the HeadMinder Concussion Resolution Index, CogSport, and Sports Concussion Applications of the Automated Neuropsychological Assessment Metrics Sports Medicine Battery. These all have slightly different criteria for assessing cognitive impairment, but what I took from the section is that computerized technology is a method for making neuropsychological testing quicker and cheaper which in turn will allow it to be used in a much more extensive manner when compare to traditional handwritten neuropsychological tests. This section is really only useful if the reader intends to implement some sort of computer based testing.

The fifth and final section gives the reader different perspectives when assessing, treating, and monitoring sports MTBI. Throughout the book, but especially here, the author(s) state the importance of collaboration when dealing with MTBI. Certified athletic trainers, team physicians, coaches, players (and parents), and neuropsychologists all must work together when either assessing or treating MTBI. The main goal is to prevent further injury to the player, while not being overly cautious so as to prevent the player from achieving necessary goals.
Final Statements

I think this book does a good job explaining many aspects of sports MTBI. For those interested in medicine as well as sports, I highly recommend reading and understanding the facts behind why some of your favorite sports players might not be allowed to play for extended periods of time from one little hit in a game. The implications for fantasy football could be enormous.

We gave this book to our 4 year old grandson who had fallen and required stitches in his forehead. He opened his present and "read" it, immediately. When he got to picture where the stitching was done, he quietly said "ouch." The book told his story in pictures and in words. Would be nice to have a similar book that was more ethnically diverse. Benjamin was very serious while he looked at the pictures. Ah, someone understood what he had experienced.

It would not be stretching the truth too far to say I woke up one morning with a stress fracture of the femoral neck; a particularly nasty one. I am recovering nicely, thanks, but have yet to find anyone who can tell me how the heck I did it. So much for the nice 'warning' one is supposed to notice over a period of weeks. That didn't happen in my experience. Consequently, I am left trying to answer the question, How in the world did I get so far over the line and not know it? And, How do I keep from repeating this performance? This book is providing answers. It's technical. It will give the average non-scientist more information than they want to know; the section on research methodology made my eyes glaze. But, it is helping me construct an explanation of how I got here, and more importantly, how I can avoid a next time. If you already know a whole lot about bone remodeling, this book isn't likely to help you much. However, if like me, you didn't understand that bone undergoes microtears in response to loading, and has a pattern of repair that parallels muscle tissue, the contents can be revealing. Five stars minus one because I have no plans to publish research in this realm, but four stars for the questions I didn't know enough to ask, and the answers it offers. I recommend it.

I was excited to finally receive the book, and see that it lived up to my expectations. As a resident I had a copy of Mark Miller's review book in my backpack at all times. When I saw that he had authored an atlas of sports medicine I placed my order before the edition was published.

I found the book to be easy to read, up to date, and pertinent to my practice. I found the images and illustrations to be of the best quality and easy to understand. I strongly recommend this textbook to any surgeon in practice or resident in training.