Sourcebook of Occupational Rehabilitation.

Sourcebook of Occupational Rehabilitation King PM, ed. New York, NY 10013-1578, Plenum Publishing Corp, 1998, 426 pp, illus, $70.

This text covers "industrial therapy," the prevention and management of work-related disorders. The text is designed to provide information to and inspiration for those professionals involved in work injury prevention and rehabilitation. It was written by a single editor and 27 contributors, many of whom are well-known practitioners and researchers in their areas of expertise.

The text contains 21 chapters, organized into 4 sections. The first section, "Forces Impacting Practice in Occupational Rehabilitation," addresses aging and other demographic changes in the workforce and the influence of these changes on occupational rehabilitation. The second section, "Prevention of Work Injury," includes chapters on ergonomics, education and training, and wellness and fitness programs. The shortest section, "Assessment of Work-Related Disorders," contains only 3 chapters covering functional capacity evaluation, work analysis, and disability evaluation. The text concludes with the section "Rehabilitation of Work Related-Disorders," which presents several models of care delivery, with the theme of integrating the workplace as an important intervention component. This section includes chapters on vocational rehabilitation, chronic pain, and psychosocial issues.

Several chapters incorporate one or more case studies or practical examples that serve to both illustrate and anchor the material. Appendixes are also included in other chapters. The text has a positive editorial presence, so the redundancy and disparate writing styles that are sometimes present in multi-author texts is minimized. However, adding the academic degrees and credentials of the authors somewhere in the text would have been helpful. I appreciate knowing whether an author writes from a medical, legal, engineering, or physical or occupational therapy background.

The text does not dwell on issues of professional "turf." For example, the authors do not try to determine what kind of practitioner performs a functional capacity evaluation, job modification, or work-site analysis. More typically, nonspecific terms, such as occupational health professional, rehabilitation professional, or on-site therapist, are used.

This is not a traditional text on ergonomics, and it includes only a minimal amount of math-based biomechanics. The chapter on common neuromuscular disorders briefly uses a regional approach to the body. Appropriate examples of work-related musculoskeletal disorders are discussed in several places in the text.

The strength of the text is in the breadth of material covered. The chapters range from issues in surveillance and survey techniques to the effect of health care reform on occupational rehabilitation to the details of job modification and assistive technology. The topics are covered accurately, with current citations and appropriate notation of older classic works. The text serves as a sourcebook, achieving the stated goal of the authors and the editor.

This volume could be used effectively as a text in an industrial therapy or clinical ergonomics specialty course, but I do not see it as a required text in a professional curriculum. Overall, I strongly recommend it as a substantial resource for health care professionals with an interest or clinical practice in this area.

David J Miller, PhD, PT

Springfield College 

Springfield, Mass

Dr Miller is Associate Professor in the Department of Physical Therapy where he teaches human anatomy and occupational biomechanics. His research interests include industrial therapy, electromyography, and task seating.