Adapted Physical Activity: An Interdisciplinary Approach.

This book presents the proceedings of the 7th International Symposium of the International Federation of Adapted Physical Activity, held in West Berlin, in June 1989. Seventy-one papers were selected for publication, written by individuals representing 15 countries.

Adapted physical activity (APA) is defined in the preface as "movement, physical activity, and sports in which special emphasis is placed on the interests and capabilities of individuals with limiting conditions, such as the disabled., health impaired or aged." The four papers comprising part 1 attempt to further define APA, with limited success. Differences, if any, between APA and adapted physical education are not made clear, nor are the disciplines involved in the interdisciplinary approach. Most of the authors appear to be physical educators. A question I hoped would be answered by the time I finished reading the book was raised by Jochheim: "When and how [should] neurophysiological therapy [change] to an active sports program in terms of lifelong physical activity]?]"

Part 2 consists of five papers, under the heading of "Sports for All." One paper provides a broad rationale for the psychological, physiological, and spiritual aspects of fitness. Other papers delineate a hierarchy of physical activity, describe a qualitative study of 15 athletes participating in wheelchair sports, report a study of urban and rural adults' physical activity, and describe physical activities of three adults with mental retardation.

Eleven papers in part 3, entitled "Sports for Athletes with Disabilities," cover such diverse topics as inclusion of athletes with disabilities in the Olympic Games, a historical review of classification of wheelchair athletes, wheelchair propulsion research, and regimens for athletes with spinal cord injuries. I was especially interested in the report of a study of weight training and flexibility expercises by athletes who have cerebral palsy (unfortunately, referred to as "cerebral palsy athletes").

The rest of the book contains a similar polyglot of papers, as is common for conference proceedings. Part 4 includes nine papers under the heading of "Integration and Social Acceptance." A paper in part 5, "Educational and Philosophical Aspects," covering similarities and differences between psychomotor therapy and APA finally shed some light on the question of where physical therapy fits into APA.

Part 6, "The Role of Professionals in Adapted Physical Activity," contains four papers, including another paper that I found to be especially interesting. The paper reports an incident in a 5-year anthropological study of the life experiences of institution residents who have profound and multiple disabilities. These revealing and thought-provoking insights into the play behaviors of two of the residents have implications for physical therapy practitioners working with people who have severe and multiple developmental disabilities and suggest the potential value of the reference to the larger study.

"Effects of Physical Exercise" is the theme uniting the six papers in part 7, and "Physical Activity as Therapy" unites the seven papers of part 8. Several interesting studies were reported in part 9, "Human Movement Analysis."

The eight papers in part 10 are grouped under the heading of "Assessment." Functional assessments, which are of increasing interest to many physical therapists, were addressed by several of the authors. Part 11, "Technological Advances," concludes the conference proceedings. Such diverse topics as tennis wheelchairs and the load on artificial hip joints during cycling are reported.

With its great variety of topics and its international perspective, most physical therapy practitioners are likely to find papers of interest in this book. There are probably too few, however, to warrant the considerable investment required to purchase the volume. Also, although the papers could serve as resources for many subjects, they are often not well-referenced, limiting their value as a source of other work on similar topics. In addition, a number of references are not in English, which further limits their usefulness to many. Spelling errors abound, but are more easily forgiven as this is an English book that was printed in Germany.