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Reviews of Books, Computer Software, and Multimedia |
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Workbook for Functional Neurorehabilitation Through the Life Span Bertoti DB. Philadelphia, PA 19103, FA Davis Co, 2004, paperback, 156 pp, illus, ISBN: 0-8036-1108-0, $19.95.
This textbook and accompanying workbook were designed for physical therapist and occupational therapist students and clinicians. Their purpose is to provide an integrated approach to basic neuroscience and applied neurorehabilitation. The principal author is a board-certified pediatric physical therapist and an associate professor in the occupational therapy and athletic training programs at Alvernia College. Contributing authors include 3 occupational therapy faculty members from the same college.
The textbook is very well organized and easy to read. It is divided into 2 main parts. The first part deals with basic sciences and motor development. The second part covers management of clinical problems. Each chapter begins with a summary of the key concepts for the material presented. The text is supported by clear and concise illustrations. Highlighted text call-outs provide clinical connections to the general science material. Each chapter finishes with a pediatric and adult case study.
Chapter 1 provides an introduction to physical therapy and occupational therapy. It reviews the basic terms used in patient management and describes clinical-reasoning and problem-solving techniques. The second chapter reviews basic neuroanatomy and provides an excellent summary of the topic. Although it covers the material sufficiently for an assistant-level program, physical therapist students would need more information in their curriculum than is covered here.
Chapters 3 and 4 cover the systems approach to therapy and motor development throughout the lifespan, and prove to be the best written chapters in this book. They thoroughly discuss the material, and provide references for the topics that are covered best in other texts. The tables are invaluable as teaching aids.
The second part of the book addresses patient management beginning with a review of motor learning as it relates to various life stages. Chapter 5 discusses how various neurological conditions, such as Down syndrome, Parkinson disease, or brain injury, may affect learning. Chapter 6 is an overview of the various approaches to neurorehabilitation. The reader is referred to other texts for specifics regarding functional retraining, the task-oriented approach, neurodevelopmental therapy, proprioceptive neuromuscular facilitation, or sensory integration.
The last 4 chapters of the book examine the management of particular neuromuscular impairments. One chapter is dedicated to the motor system impairments that interfere with functional movement, such as weakness, abnormal muscle reflexes, coordination difficulties, and involuntary movements. The next chapter looks at postural control and balance. The final 2 chapters address the upper and lower extremities, respectively.
Chapter 8, "Management of Disorders of Postural Control and Balance," is the most comprehensive of the last 4 chapters. It gives a complete description of the components of postural control, and it details specific examination and intervention techniques. Both the pediatric and adult case studies further illustrate the topics covered in the text. The reader can easily apply the approaches used in these case studies to other patients.
The other clinical management chapters do a good job of describing common functions such as reach, grasp, and gait. Illustrations and charts summarize the deficits that can occur within these areas. However, the descriptions of interventions are not as detailed. The case studies do offer a snapshot of patient goals and activities appropriate at the time of examination; however, none of the case studies show the progression of the patient through the episode of care, alterations in the plan of care, or describe the time frame necessary to achieve functional goals.
The accompanying workbook contains chapters that match those in the text. Each chapter begins with a brief summary of the material that is taken verbatim from the textbook. Each chapter then provides 3 learning experiences, which range from filling in charts to analyzing posture. Each workbook chapter finishes with a list of approximately 10 to 30 review questions. The answers are provided in the back of the text, and once again are taken verbatim from the textbook.
The workbook exhibits several shortcomings. It presents the material in the exact fashion as the text. The review questions essentially put the phrase "what is" in front of any title or boldfaced word in the text. When used in conjunction with the text, it becomes repetitious and dull after several chapters. Some of the learning activities, however, are worthwhile, such as task analysis and facilitation of functional tasks.
I would recommend the textbook for use in physical therapist assistant education programs and as part of the curriculum in professional physical therapist education programs. Practicing clinicians may find the tables and illustrations in the textbook useful for client education and presentations. Because the workbook duplicates much of the textbook, it does not significantly augment the material.
Braintree, Mass
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