Musculoskeletal Trauma. Clinical Handbooks in Physical Therapy Management Series.

Musculoskeletal Trauma. Clinical Handbooks in Physical Therapy Management Series

This textbook, one of the selected volumes in the series entitled Clinical Handbooks for Physical Therapy Management, was chosen from a German series entitled Krankengymnastik. According to the authors, this particular series has been a foundation textbook for decades of physical therapy in Germany.

This particular book approaches the topic of musculoskeletal trauma in a very easy-to-read, refreshing, and adequately illustrated manner. It identifies most of the musculoskeletal trauma that the physical therapist might encounter in the course of his or her career. Some of the systematic appoaches, for example, to describing the mechanism of injury, typical physical therapy intervention with a definitive European slant, and medical management is detailed for each major joint and segment of the body.

Certain areas of musculoskeletal trauma are not discussed, such as arthroscopic intervention, total joint replacement other than the hip, and head trauma. However, this does not limit the book's quality or detract form the quantity of information.

The physical therapy approach described demonstrates a large dependence on proprioceptive neuromuscular facilitation and hydrotherapy. Some of the more common American rehabilitation approaches, for example, using progressive isokinetic machinery, various forms of electrical therapy, soft laser where applicable, continuous motion, and manual and myofascial release techniques, are not included.

This book appears to be fundamentally sound, with good structured instructions in using tested and accepted therapeutic approaches to a variety of soft tissue pathologies. The book would be a good addition to any physical therapy library or teaching institution, as it offers a thorough, easily applicable therapeutic approach to most musculoskeletal traumatic situations.