Sports Physical Therapy.

Sports, fitness, wellness, health awareness, and preventive medicine are terms that conjure up images of sport-related injuries, triathlons, the Super Bowl, and billion-dollar sports clothing and equipment industry. What some people thought would be a passing fad is here to stay. Has medicine in general and physical therapy in particular kept pace with the sports and fitness craze? I think so. The evolution of the sports physical therapy specialist has been impressive. This text is a good example of how physical therapy has responded to our society's needs and could assist those who manage the athletic population.

How the sports physical therapist fits into the total sports medicine picture is clearly defined in chapter 1 of this book. Comprehensive coverage of pre-season athletic evaluations, emergency care, protective equipment, environmental conditions, ergogenic aids, drugs, and nutrition is provided in subsequent chapters. One chapter covers rehabilitation concepts, but specific treatment protocols relative to specific regions are provided in other chapters. Nonorthopedic problems are discussed in addition to injuries common to the axial skeleton and extremities. The scientific basis for the use of flexibility, weight, and cardiorespiratory training in sport is well-covered in three separate chapters. The book also includes extensive coverage of injuries specific to the runner, swimmer, and thrower. The uniqueness of this text stems from its narrations about female, pediatric, and adolescent athletes and about mature and disabled athletes.

The text has an impressive array of contributors. The chapters are well-written and contain many useful figures, tables, charts, and up-to-date references. The appendixes following the chapters on the athlete with disabilities and on protective equipment are another nice feature, providing the reader with a list of additional sources of information. The chapter on flexibility is excellent, as it includes the most current scientific thoughts on that subject. The case studies in the chapters on conditioning illustrate the application of conditioning and enhance the usefulness of the concepts presented. The mechanics of throwing and swimming activities are thoroughly discussed, providing the reader with a good foundation for the understanding of injuries related to those sports.

The information on ergogenic aids, drugs, and nutrition could have been consolidated into one chapter; there was considerable redundancy in the three chapters devoted to those topics. There was some inconsistency in how the various authors covered review of regional anatomy, evaluation schemes, and rehabilitation protocols. In this reviewer's opinion, the coverage of lumbar spine pathology and the biomechanics of running was not adequate.

Because of the inconsistencies noted, I would not recommend this text for the entry-level physical therapy student. The book probably is better suited for the physical therapy practitioner who is developing an interest in sports physical therapy and also could serve as a useful review for clinicians preparing for the sports specialty certification examination. This book fills a void in the sports physical therapy literature and should be on the bookshelves of orthopedic and sport clinics.