Surgical Atlas of Sports Medicine is a 538-page book that purports
to cover all of the essentials of sports traumatology, including the diagnosis
of sports injuries and the nonoperative and operative approaches for the
treatment of such injuries.
The atlas is divided into two parts: the lower extremity and the upper
extremity. The book contains seventy-three chapters, each of which is
dedicated to a common athletic injury or pathologic condition. Open and, when
applicable, arthroscopic or endoscopic techniques are described within the
chapters, and numerous line drawings are used to illustrate the specifics of
the surgical approach and repair.
The authors duly include in each chapter one or two paragraphs, often less,
that outline the obligatory "nonoperative treatment." Slightly
more ink is given to operative management. The illustrations, especially the
line drawings, outline the surgical approaches. Open and arthroscopic or
endoscopic techniques are well illustrated. The chosen techniques represent
those preferred by the authors, but little or no data are presented to
indicate why one surgical method is chosen over the many others that may be
available.
Each chapter of the Surgical Atlas of Sports Medicine presents a
concentrated rendition of the most important facts concerning a specific,
sports-related injury, usually encompassing six to seven pages, often less.
The book reminds me of the Cliffs Notes rendition of the poems and
plays of Shakespeare. I recall the admonishments of my high-school and college
professors to take the time to read the original writings of this great author
to comprehend the true meaning and majesty of Shakespeare's work.
But—alas!—at crunch time, many of us succumbed to the temptation
to cram the major points needed for a paper or final examination by making use
of the compact black-and-yellow pamphlet to obtain the required information.
The Surgical Atlas of Sports Medicine is similar to the Cliffs
Notes in that it is the only book, to my knowledge, that covers the
treatment of sports-related lower-extremity fractures in ten pages or less,
with at least half of those pages composed of illustrations.
The authors indicated in the preface that "this work would be an
excellent teaching tool for patients, medical students, primary care
providers, orthopaedic residents, and orthopaedic surgeons alike." I
hope that the medical education of our future orthopaedists will not rest on
books of this type, which represent the equivalent of a repair manual in that
they describe the application of surgical techniques without the application
of essential background knowledge. A firm knowledge of basic science and the
performance of a thorough clinical examination are necessary before a
rationale can be made with regard to surgical intervention.
This book will have a valuable role in the library of the knowledgeable
orthopaedic surgeon. It offers a quick review of the essentials of operative
procedures, making it an ideal refresher book for the experienced and
well-read orthopaedist who has extensive background knowledge accumulated over
the years through comprehensive reading and review of the cogent literature.
Similar to the Cliffs Notes, however, the Surgical Atlas of
Sports Medicine will also find popular application when an investment of
the time or effort needed for a complete review and understanding of a topic
is not desired.