Instructions for Sports Medicine Patients.

Instructions for Sports Medicine Patients Safran M, Stone DA, Zachazewski J. Philadelphia, PA 19106-3399, Saunders, 2003, paperback (with CD-ROM*), 966 pp, illus, ISBN: 0-7216-7704-5, $49.95.

The 3 primary authors--2 physicians and a physical therapist--have written this book to help medical practitioners provide patients with documented educational information regarding their injuries. This educational component often is overlooked by clinicians because of time limitations in their busy practices. The text consists of 282 sports medicine injuries or issues and each is written in terms that patients can understand.

Topics are laid out alphabetically. For each injury, a common format is followed consisting of 2 to 5 pages of information. First, the injury is described, along with common signs and symptoms. Next, the mechanism of injury is presented, along with possible risk factors. Preventive measures and expected outcomes also are mentioned. In the expected outcomes section, recovery time and the need for surgical intervention are discussed. Next, a listing of possible complications is included that emphasizes the importance of proper treatment for the injury. General treatment guidelines are given, and, in most instances, initial home exercises with pictures accompany the written narrative. In addition, commonly prescribed medications are identified and a small section on "when to contact the physician" ends each section.

As the title reflects, the topics in this text include common injuries (eg, achilles tendinitis, ankle sprain, ACL injury, compartment syndrome, and patellar tendon rupture) that may be sustained by participants in sports. In addition to the sports medicine injuries, other issues, such as supplements and issues related to sports medicine care, are presented. A sample of topics in this category include amino acids, anabolic steroids, chromium picolinate, growth hormone, altitude sickness, cast care, imaging, arthroscopy, outpatient surgery, barotitis media, arrhythmogenic right ventricular dysplasia, and effort thrombosis.

An additional feature of this text is a CD-ROM that includes all of the handouts for clinicians to print for their patients. Furthermore, a set of anatomical figures, which can be selected individually, are included on the CD. Clinicians can use these figures to further explain the injury or surgical procedure.

The intended audience of this book includes clinicians dealing with patients who are active or athletic. Overall, this text provides a good deal of information to help simplify the clinician's patient education process. A section on references is not included and would be helpful in providing further information for both the clinician and patient. The home exercises that are included with each injury should be used only with proper instruction. A couple of the figures are not technically correct and could create more problems if the patient strictly follows what is shown in the picture. For example, the figure for the "squat and wall slide" exercise depicts the subject's knee translating anterior to the toes. This position increases the joint reaction force at the knee.

[Note: Minimum computer system requirements tot CD-ROM are: Microsoft Word, 800 x 600 pixel screen resolution, 64 MB RAM, Windows 98 or later. Macintosh: OS, X+ operating system.]

Janice K Loudon, PT, PhD, SCS, ATC 

University of Kansas Medical Center

Kansas City, Kan

Dr Loudon is Associate Professor in the Physical Therapy Program. She has more than 20 years of clinical experience in orthopedics. Her research interest is the study of biomechanics and prevention of injuries in sports.