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Book review Physical Rehabilitation in Arthritis. J. Walker, A. Helewa, Editors. St Louis: Saunders, 2004, 414 pages, price $69.95 (US). I congratulate the authors for this significantly updated second edition. They lead the way in standardized interdisciplinary approaches to chronic disease management in the field of rheumatology. Although there is some redundancy between chapters, this textbook is thoughtfully written with useful, at-a-glance tools, such as algorithms at the beginning of each chapter and recurring boxes presenting key facts or competencies. It adds clarity to understanding a group of highly complex diseases and presents multidimentional intervention strategies. Students and clinicians alike will find well presented concepts followed by their practical applications. It also provides a considerable amount of published data by systematically presenting current clinical practice guidelines, metaanalyses, and results of relevant research studies. However, the chapter on fibromyalgia does present some weakness in terms of the quality and quantity of the evidence provided. In general the book promotes knowledge transfer and challenges our way of thinking about treating patients in rheumatology. In my opinion no student of the rehabilitation sciences or healthcare professional working in the field of rheumatology should be without this reference text. Lynn Casimiro, PT, Projects Coordinator, University of Ottawa-CNFS,
Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. |
