Rehabilitation Techniques in Sports Medicine.

This book is intended to be used as a textbook in an advanced sports medicine course that includes a clinical practicum. Each chapter begins with objectives and ends with a summary of the chapter's main points, in classic textbook style. This text also could serve physical therapists as a reference source for information on the design, implementation, and supervision of rehabilitation programs for individuals who have sports injuries.

This text is divided into two parts. The first part covers theories and techniques and includes chapters on the healing process, goal-setting, manual therapy techniques, evaluation, psychological considerations, modalities, and drugs. The second part of the book applies these theories and techniques to specific parts of the body and includes chapters on low back, shoulder, elbow, wrist and hand, hip and thigh, knee, lower leg, ankle, and foot. Each chapter describes the mechanism of injury, signs and symptoms, and potential techniques that could be used to facilitate the healing process.

Over 300 photographs and drawings are used to illustrate the text. Most of them are handled well, but a few depict hands-on techniques that have less-than-precise manual contacts. Also, the book's contributing authors focus on high-school and college athletes, overlooking the fact that sports-related injuries can and do affect athletes of all ages. In spite of these shortcomings, this well-organized book is a valuable source of ideas and principles that should be kept in mind when designing rehabilitation programs. For physcial therapists who are interested in integrating a comprehensve exercise program into patient treatment, I recommend using this text as a reference.

Maggie Fillmore, PT Kaiser Residency Program in Orthopedic Physical Therapy Hayward, Calif