Spinal Cord Injury: A Guide for Living.

Spinal Cord Injury: A Guide for Living

Palmer S, Kriegsman KH, Palmer JB. Baltimore, MD 21218-4363, The Johns Hopkins University Press, 2000, paperback, 290 pp, illus, ISBN: 0-8018-6353-8 (hardcover: 0-8018-6352-X), $15.95 (hardcover: $42.50).

The purpose of this book is to provide information to people with spinal cord injury and their family and friends. The authors discuss the stages during and after rehabilitation as the person with a spinal cord injury embarks on a new adventure. The book is divided into 3 parts. The first part (3 chapters) covers trauma, hospitalization, rehabilitation, and adjustment. The authors discuss readjustment and its related challenges in the second part of the book. Its 4 chapters include information on the transition to home, special issues of the family, sexuality and sexual function, and independent living. The third part concerns successful living with spinal cord injury. The 3 chapters contain information on spinal cord injury research, discovery of new and old ways to continue life, and thoughts related to strengths, stresses, and wisdom. An extensive list of resources, notes to reference specific information in the text, and an index also are provided at the end of the book. The book is written by 3 authors: 2 are psychologists (one of whom is a consultant on disability issues) and the third is a physician in rehabilitation medicine.

The focus of the book is the emotional, social, and vocational skills people with spinal cord injury will need to learn. Italics are used for terms or phrases to highlight terminology or to emphasize a point. Stories of people with spinal cord injuries are located throughout the chapters. These patient histories represent people at different levels of injury, with complete and incomplete injuries, and at various stages postinjury. These real-life stories are a strength of this book, and this information may help readers relate to their own situations. Many of the people in these stories are successful in their endeavors, but the stories highlight the challenges and struggles of their experiences.

This book promotes viewing the person with a spinal cord injury as an individual not a disability, yet people-first language is not used consistently throughout the book. The term quadriplegia is used in this book, which is not consistent with the American Spinal Injury Association's current use of the term tetraplegia. The writing style is clear, but this book may be written at too high an education level for some people in the intended audience. Physical therapy, occupational therapy, and respiratory therapy are accurately represented, but the information about these therapies is limited. The role a physical therapist can play in respiratory care is not included. The section on research seems hopeful, but honest, and will need to be updated as changes occur.

People with spinal cord injury, ranging from those who are newly injured to those whose injury occurred many years ago, may find this book helpful. Their family and friends also may benefit from this book. Other resources may be more appropriate for people immediately after their injuries, but this book meets a need to cover information during and after rehabilitation. The authors emphasize throughout the book that people can live their lives to the fullest after their injury. They state that a person's ability to live life is not dependent on the amount of motor function they have. The authors also encourage people with spinal cord injuries to use their situation to make positive changes in their lives.

This book may be a valuable resource for a rehabilitation center to have available for people with spinal cord injury and for their family and friends. Additional information, however, would need to be provided about the physical problems and therapeutic interventions for people with spinal cord injury. This book may also be helpful to physical therapists and other health care professionals who are new to this area of practice so that they can be aware of issues related to people with spinal cord injury.

Marianne R Orest, PT, MEd Fletcher Allen Health Care Medical Center Hospital of Vermont Campus Burlington, Vt

Ms Orest is Clinical Research Educator and performs patient care and clinical research in a tertiary care facility. She is also Clinical Assistant Professor at the University of Vermont where she teaches the spinal cord injury and traumatic brain injury sections of the curriculum.