Essentials of Musculoskeletal Care

by M.d. Sarwark John F.

Essentials of Musculoskeletal Care is a powerful clinical resource for family physicians, internists, pediatricians, physiatrists, osteopathic physicians, rheumatologists, emergency physicians, and every primary care physician.

Fast Essentials' problem/solution format and concise content deliver the information you need quickly and easily.

Visual Hundreds of photographs, radiographs, and diagrams show you what to look for. Narrated video demonstrations show you injection and physical examination techniques.

Confident Decision Diagnostic thinking flows logically and efficiently.

Genres: Health, Medical

1259 pages, Hardcover

First published September 1, 2010

Reviews

[Peter Topside · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is my second time around on this text. It is a fantastic resource for various health and medical professionals. A few of the diagrams and scans were a tad hard to read, but the book overall is great. It's very informative, detailed, and I really do enjoy how each type of injury is broken down (No pun intended!) and uniform from its diagnosis to treatment to possible complications, etc.

[Robby · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am not a professional in this field. I purchased this book for my own personal use. I've used it as an informative reference tool in diagnosing my own health issues. The 5 rating was a no brainer. There is so much information that I find very useful in reading as it ideally applies to my own unique ailments as I age. I found each chapter breakdown and explanations therein to be easy to extrapolate the information I would be researching on any particular area of interest. This will continue to be a useful resource as I (woefully) age. The information was well written and clear for my intent and purposes. I would personally have enjoyed a more in-depth explanation in some areas; obviously the ones that would specifically apply to me. To be fair, I find this same flaw with any reference or resource book I read or peruse. I highly recommend to all who have an interest in this genre.

[Julia Wood]

WE 140 E78 2010

[Anastasia · Rating 5 out of 5]

A comprehensive and invaluable reference book for all health professionals. I especially found the exercises for the various ailments particularly helpful.

[Elizabeth · Rating 2 out of 5]

I used this book for my MSK course in med school; it was the recommended text book.

The book is divided into chapters based on anatomy (e.g. shoulder, elbow/forearm, hand/wrist, etc). Each chapter begins with a "Pain diagram" illustrating common reasons for pain in various locations in that given joint/limb. For me, this was the most useful feature in the book. After the pain diagram, the chapters go into relevant anatomy, physical exam, and then a short section on each of the common ailments. These chapters would usually include a description, clinical presentation, physical exam and diagnostic tests, differential diagnosis, outcomes, treatment, and red flags. When appropriate, there may be a short explanation of a procedure, e.g.joint injection or aspiration.
I found the sections on the ailments well-written and clear, though sometimes lacking adequate depth. I especially appreciated the inclusion of the section on red flags. This organization made it easy to learn about a given issue, but difficult to compare and contrast different issues because, despite outlining the ddx, it didn't really talk about what features define the pain as one cause vs another. A few summary charts at the beginning or end of each section could greatly improve this. Also, this book is ginormous. It's about the size of Cecil's, which made it difficult from a practicality point of view.

Overall, the book is a decent overview of many different orthopedic issues and would probably be a good reference book for e.g. a family doctor's clinic, though I personally found it awkward to use due to the way information is organized (no easy way to compare/differentiate different causes of the same pain). It's not a bad book, but I have to imagine that there are better ones out there.