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Reviews of Books, Software, and Multimedia |
The book focuses on the anatomy of movement in living subjects. Although there is somewhat limited coverage of the anatomy of the viscera and some areas contain less anatomical detail than others, there is a much greater integration of anatomical information with movement at all of the joints of the body within this text than is usually found in anatomy textbooks meant to accompany medically based dissection courses.
This book begins with an introduction to anatomy and movement terminology, followed by an overview of all of the tissues involved in human movement. A single chapter briefly covers the nervous system, the skin, and the components of the musculoskeletal system, yet this coverage is sufficient for the stated purpose of this book. Subsequent chapters on the upper limb and the lower limb are comprehensive and are organized with an emphasis on joint movements. The organization facilitates the integrated learning of the muscles, joint structures, and basic biomechanics involved in the different movements.
The following chapter covers the trunk and the neck and is comprehensive and thorough for the movements in these areas, but somewhat superficial in its descriptions of the cardiovascular, respiratory, digestive, urogenital, and endocrine systems. For example, the description of the action of the autonomic nerves that innervate the heart is limited to the effects on heart rate, with no mention of the effects of autonomic stimulation on force of contraction or blood flow to coronary arteries, and no mention of the neurotransmitters utilized by these nerves. The final chapter, which covers the head and brain, provides a description of the muscles of facial expression and the muscles that move the mandible and hyoid bones, and a brief overview of the gross anatomy of the eye, ear, and brain.
The figures consist mainly of illustrations, with about 2 dozen radiographs and a handful of photographs. All are of excellent quality. The illustrations are clear, simple, and effective. The radiographs are of good resolution and are either labeled or accompanied by a labeled illustration, which makes identification of relevant structures and relationships clear. The writing is accurate, consistent, concise, and clear, which is necessary when studying this topic. There are descriptions of the most common musculo-skeletal injuries and surgeries to place the information into a clinical context; however, no case studies are included.
New to this edition are colored figures, section summaries, and an address to a Web page that includes simple self-tests for the students and images that instructors can download. Each section summary briefly reviews the main points presented in the section, which should facilitate learning of the material. The dimensions of the book are somewhat smaller than other anatomy textbooks (7
in by 9
in), and it is not accompanied by a CD-ROM, as many anatomy textbooks currently are.
This book is different from other anatomy textbooks in several respects. First, it was not written to be part of a dissection-based anatomy course. As such, the material is not organized to accompany the learning of anatomy in a dissection lab, but is organized so that readers can learn the anatomy that is responsible for the movement in human subjects. Therefore, there is somewhat less detail provided on the anatomy of blood vessels, lymphatics, and nerves, and relatively little attention to the anatomy of thoracic, abdominal, and pelvic viscera. The emphasis (and strength) of this book, however, is its integration of anatomy and movement. The organization of the muscles by joint movement, the thorough description of joint structures, the description of how to identify muscles and bony landmarks by palpation, and the inclusion of the basic biomechanics of movement at each joint successfully matches how physical therapists actually use their anatomical knowledge.
Although this book would be an excellent choice for those students of movement who are learning anatomy without the benefit of a cadaver, the organization of the book makes it especially useful for the student who is learning to perform a musculoskeletal examination and for the practicing clinician who needs a quick review of functional anatomy, even if they have had a dissection-based anatomy course.
Creighton University
Omaha, Neb
Kincaid is Associate Professor in the Department of Physical Therapy and teaches cell biology, neuroscience and anatomy to physical therapist students, graduate students, and medical students. He has an active research laboratory that is studying the pathogenesis of the transmissible spongiform encephalopathies
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