When David Beckham limped off the pitch, ending his chances of appearing at the Football World Cup this summer, sports injuries and rehabilitation techniques peppered news stories. The global media attention paid to one player’s Achilles tendon is a sign of the growing importance of sports rehabilitation as a field of research. Paul Comfort and Earle Abramson’s new title Sports Rehabilitation and Injury Prevention, published by Wiley-Blackwell, Hoboken, NJ, is targeted to this discipline.

The book provides an evidence-based guide, covering the stages of the rehabilitation process, from initial assessment, diagnosis and treatment, through to the return to preinjury fitness and injury prevention. It also includes nutritional and psychological aspects of the rehabilitation process.

It is divided into five parts. Parts I, II, and III cover screening and assessment; the pathophysiology of sports injuries and healing; and the various stages of training during the rehabilitation process.

Part IV looks at the most common injuries in the most popular sports and explores their treatment through the complete rehabilitation process. It includes real-world case studies and sample rehabilitation programs. Part V gives advice on how to set up in practice as a sports rehabilitator.

[Source: Eureka Alert! for Wiley-Blackwell]