New Zealand Rehabilitation Association, Inc.

Physical Therapies in Sport and Exercise (2nd Ed.) (2006). Edited by Gregory S Kolt and Lynn Snder-Mackler. Churchill Livingston, Elsevier: Edinborough. ISBN: 978-0-443-10351-3 (Hardback).

Price: $212.00 (NZ Dollars)
Available from Elsevier Australia

This sizable volume provides a contemporary perspective on the topic of physical therapies in sport and exercise. The target audience for this text is not solely physiotherapists, but any health professionals who use physical techniques in the prevention, management and rehabilitation of injuries resulting from sport and other recreational activities. One of the strengths of this work is the attempt that has been made to provide scientific evidence to underpin all chapters - a challenge that is not easily met given the paucity of high quality research in this field of study. Where such evidence is lacking, expert opinion has been provided in its stead. However, in general, this textbook provides a well-referenced overview of current scientific evidence and clinical perspectives, provided by a large group of international clinicians and researchers.

The book is divided into five sections, each section containing a number of chapters. Section 1 covers anatomical, physiological and pathological issues related to the management of muscles, tendons, ligaments, bones, nerves and cartilage. (New Zealand's very own Peter J McNair from AUT University is the lead author the chapter discussing muscle structure, function and injury.) Section 2 presents concepts and principles in the management of sport and exercise. Section 3 focuses in on the management of injuries at a regional level, with individual chapters on the spine; the shoulder; the elbow; the wrist and hand; the pelvis, hip and groin; the knee; the patellofemoral joint; and the foot, ankle and lower leg. Section 4 examines the role of sport and exercise physical therapy for various groups of people including children and adolescents, older adults, women, and athletes with disabilities, while Section 5 discusses medical considerations such as pharmacological agents and medical imaging.

The funny thing about these types of ambitious texts - ones which attempt to collate a huge amounts of knowledge in a single volume - is that while they may end up providing an excellent overview of a wide range of topics (as Physical Therapies in Sport and Exercise most certainly does) - they inevitably end up suffering on the detail. A huge chapter on a topic such as the "Psychology of injury and rehabilitation" (Chapter 11) may seem impressive to begin with, but when you find the literature on adherence in rehabilitation has been boiled down to eight short paragraphs, you realise you are still going to need to go back to trawling the health science journals to seek the answers you want. A similar argument could be raised for the chapters on "Children and adolescents" (Chapter 25), "Athletes with disability" (Chapter 28), the three chapters on medical considerations, and no doubt any other that you, the reader, has a particular expertise in. In other words, your expectations for this textbook should be for an excellent supplement to your library of resources or perhaps a good starting point for more detail exploration of particular topics, rather than a one-stop-shop for all your clinical information needs. Health science students will definitely find it a good introduction to the world of therapy for sport and exercise. Experienced clinicians are likely to appreciate it for revision or updates in specific subject areas. As a general reference text, this one should be recommended.