The Athlete's Shoulder.

This book is designed to serve as a text on the shoulder disorders that may result from athletic activities. This book is the only resource in the current literature that combines the professional expertise of athletic trainers, basic scientists, biomechanists, orthopedic surgeons, and sports physical therapists. It comprehensively addresses the specific problems that commonly occur in the shoulder region as consequences of participation in both competitive and recreational sports. Many of the concepts presented throughout the book are also applicable to the industrial and outpatient orthopedic practice environments.

The book is presented in six major sections: basic science, examination, arthroscopy, pathology and surgery, sportspecific injuries, and rehabilitation principles. Each section is then subdivided into several chapters that are designed to stand alone as a complete description of a particular topic. The 53 chapters include topics that range from the fundamental concepts of functional anatomy, patient assessment, rotator cuff surgery, and manual physical therapy to the newer ideas for diagnostic imaging, multidirectional instability, neuromuscular control exercises, and closed-chain rehabilitation. In general, each chapter is well-written in clear and understandable language, well-referenced with appropriate and contemporary primary sources from the research literature, and complemented by many illustrations and photographs that further enhance the contents of the text. The book ends with an appendix of rehabilitation exercises that are easily adaptable by the physical therapist for a shoulder patient's clinical or home treatment program. The list of contributors and chapter authors reads as a who's who of highly qualified professionals, each of whom is regarded as a bona fide expert in his or her specific subfield of sports medicine.

There are two areas in which this otherwise superior text is incomplete. Although the section on sports-specific injuries does detail the problems that occur with baseball, football, gymnastics, swimming, and tennis, there is minimal or no analysis of other contact and collision sports in which shoulder injuries are common, such as ice hockey, lacrosse, martial arts, and wrestling. Also, although the sections on examination and rehabilitation principles do an excellent job of presenting both general and problem-specific methods for the diagnosis and management of shoulder disorders, they contain minimal information on the specific methods that exist elsewhere in the medical literature for the objectification and documentation of functional outcomes. These criticisms, however, are only minor when compared with the overall nature of this book, which is genuinely outstanding in its scope and extent.

In summary, this book should be in the library of any and every health care provider who specializes in shoulder problems or who treats athletes.