Musculoskeletal Biomechanics.

Brinckmann P, Frobin W, Leivseth G. New York, NY 10001, Thieme, 2002, paperback, 253 pp, illus, ISBN: 1-58890-080-0, $49.

The main goal of this book is to explain biomechanical analysis of the human body and the effects of mechanical loading on major joints. The authors also attempt to explain the analytical process in orthopedic biomechanics. The book's intended audiences are health care workers in the fields of physical therapy, rehabilitation, orthopedics, and orthopedic biomechanics. The book will be a useful tool for readers interested in expanding on their existing knowledge of biomechanical analysis of the hip, knee, and spine. It will also be a useful reference text to accompany an introductory biomechanics course.

The book's first 6 chapters discuss basic physics and mechanical principles. Chapter 7 explores the deformation and strength of structures. Chapter 8 concerns the calculation of loads on joints. The next 4 chapters discuss the mechanical aspects of the hip, knee, lumbar spine, and shoulder, respectively. Chapter 13 describes skeletal muscle, and chapters 14 and 15 describe the mechanical properties of bones and mechanical aspects of skin, respectively. There are 6 appendixes, which contain additional discussion of issues such as loading of the lumbar spine as well as a more mathematical description of the translation and rotations of a body in three-dimensional space and the use of helical axes.

Each of the chapters, and in particular those that deal with the hip, knee, and lumbar spine (chapters 9-11), has a detailed, qualitative discussion of forces and loads acting on joints. The authors make use of simple and easy-to-read figures and diagrams. Their use of equations is limited, and, therefore, most of the discussion is qualitative.

Throughout the book, the authors cite articles and books relevant to the discussion, and, at the end of each chapter, they provide a list of relevant textbooks and articles for further review. Discussion in the chapters on the hip, knee, and lumbar spine joints is comprehensive and at a level where some experience in basic kinematic analysis would be useful, whereas the chapters on the structure and function of skeletal muscle, mechanical properties of bones, and mechanical aspects of the skin are more introductory.

The book is set in a 2-column "newspaper style" format, and it is a collection of lectures, scientific papers, and publications, a format that occasionally influences the book's continuity. The book is a translation from German and, at times, is somewhat awkward to read. The book contains detailed information on analysis of joint loads and the operation of the lumbar spine, knee and hip joints, and it will be a useful reference for biomechanists. Physical therapists who have knowledge in kinematic analysis and who would like to expand on that knowledge will find this book a good resource.

Dov Goldvasser, MScE
Massachusetts General Hospital
Boston, Mass

Mr Goldvasser is Research Associate in the Biomotion Lab at Massachusetts General Hospital.