Exercise Physiology for Health Care Professionals.

Cerny F J, Burton HW. Champaign, IL 61825, Human Kinetics, 2001, hardcover, 408 pp, illus, ISBN: 0-88011-752-4, $59.

Unlike many exercise physiology text-books, this book was written specifically for health care professionals. The authors have used an integrated systems approach, which emphasizes the clinical application of therapeutic exercise as an intervention for a variety of conditions as well as for disease prevention and wellness. Case studies are interspersed throughout the text, allowing readers to periodically evaluate their understanding of the information.

The book's 18 chapters cover a wide spectrum of topics, including bioenergetics, nutrition, metabolism, neuromuscular and skeletal conditions, pulmonary and cardiovascular conditions, environmental concerns, and exercise testing and prescription. In addition, there are chapters specifically devoted to concepts of exercise physiology in pediatrics and aging. The 6 appendixes contain reference information for metabolic calculations, metabolic equivalent (MET) tables, physical activity questionnaires, and solutions to the review questions found at the end of each chapter. Along with the review questions, each chapter contains a list of key terms and key concepts, a feature that makes this book very user friendly.

The authors adeptly simplified some typically complex and confusing topics through the use of simple and understandable clinical examples. For instance, a photograph and its accompanying caption show a person getting up from a chair, which nicely illustrates the importance of adenosine triphosphate (ATP) and creatine phosphokinase (CP) as energy sources for the performance of activities of daily living. Other photographs in the same chapter, which show a patient ambulating through a set of parallel bars and a group of long distance runners, clearly demonstrate the functional importance of the glycolytic and oxidative energy pathways. Other topics covered in this book include energy costs of ambulation with assistive devices and economy of movement and energy expenditure for disease states.

Most of the references cite information in relatively recent publications. The information is current and reflects current trends in health care with particular emphasis on exercise for patients with conditions often seen by rehabilitation and physical medicine professionals. The strength of this book is its use of case studies and review questions, which encourage readers to develop their critical thinking skills by allowing them to interact with the information through "real life" clinical examples. Because of its health care and medical orientation, this text might not meed the needs of clinicians who are primarily concerned with fitness in people who are healthy and elite athletes. But health care professionals who want and need to improve their understanding of concepts in exercise physiology in a clinically relevant manner will find this book to be very satisfying.

John P Sanko, PT, EdD
University of Scranton
Scranton, Pa

Dr Sanko is Associate Professor in the Department of Physical Therapy, where he teaches the cardiopulmonary physical therapy and research courses.