Atlas of Anatomy: General Anatomy and Musculoskeletal System.

Atlas of Anatomy: General Anatomy and Musculoskeletal System

Schuenke M, Schulte E, Schumocher U. New York, NY 10001, Thieme, 2006, paperback, 541 pp, illus, ISBN: 1-58890-387-7, $64.95.

The Atlas of Anatomy is the English translation of a German textbook that has been adapted for North American readers by Lawrence Ross, MD, PhD, and Edward Lamperti, PhD. This first volume is General Anatomy and Musculoskeletal Anatomy and 2 future volumes will focus on the head and neuroanatomy and the neck and internal organs.

The Atlas of Anatomy: General Anatomy and Musculoskeletal System begins with an introductory section on general anatomy, containing a brief evolutionary overview and a synopsis of human prenatal development. The introductory section continues with illustrations of basic surface anatomy and short overviews of the skeletal, muscular, cardiovascular, lymphatic, and nervous systems. The majority of the book is divided into 3 sections on musculoskeletal anatomy: "Trunk Wall," "Upper Limb," and "Lower Limb." The trunk wall section includes discussions of various types of hernias (eg, direct and indirect inguinal, femoral), the female breast, and male and female external genitalia. Each of the 3 main sections contains chapters on bones, joints, and ligaments; functional groups of muscles; topographic anatomy of muscles; neurovascular forms and relations; and topographic anatomy of neurovascular systems.

There are detailed illustrations of the normal anatomy of musculoskeletal and nervous structures and numerous schematic figures illustrating functional and clinical correlations. Many figure legends are expanded and contain substantial information on normal anatomy and pathological conditions. There are functional correlations on both the movements of joints and the actions of muscles. Clinical correlations contain short descriptions of common skeletal, muscular, and peripheral nerve injuries, including some mechanisms of injury and analyses of the resulting deficits. Numerous summary tables list the origin, insertion, main actions, and innervation of muscles; groups of muscles according to region; arteries and their branches; veins and their tributaries; and nerves with the spinal cord segments they represent, their branches, and the muscles that they supply.

The Atlas of Anatomy: General Anatomy and Musculoskeletal System would be a useful addition to the library of any clinician interested in the musculoskeletal system. It contains beautiful illustrations of musculoskeletal anatomy and clear, descriptive legends, many of which are detailed. This volume offers more value than a typical arias because of the substantial amount of functional and clinical information that is included. The series of 3 volumes was planned as a "comprehensive educational tool," and the first volume at least largely achieves that objective. There are scattered minor differences in terminology and analyses of functions from some American references, but these don't detract from this volume's worth.

Although the General Anatomy and Musculoskeletal System's scope of coverage is too narrow to allow it to serve as the primary arias for a general course on gross anatomy, it warrants consideration as the required arias for any gross anatomy course for physical therapist students that involves dissection mainly of the back and the extremities. It also would make a fine supplemental resource for preclinical laboratory courses that emphasize skeletal and muscular anatomy and for any physical therapy clinic's reference library.

William A Roy, PT, PhD

Touro University--Nevada Henderson, Nev

Roy is an Associate Professor of Basic Sciences in the College of Osteopathic Medicine. He currently teaches gross anatomy to osteopathic medical and occupational therapist students.