From Book News, Inc.
Prevention and rehabilitation approaches are presented here, helping professionals make clinical decisions for building prevention and rehabilitation programs. Based on the author's research results which quantify forces that specific movements and exercises impose on the low back, the book identifies commonly prescribed practices that are actually contraindicated and provides strategies to offset injuries and restore function. Numerous b&w photos of exercise sequences are included. McGill teaches at the University of Waterloo, Canada.Copyright © 2004 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

Book Description
Get the latest information on evidence-based prevention and rehabilitation approaches from an internationally recognized expert; and learn how to apply the principles to low back disorders and low back pain in industry, sport, and everyday settings. Low Back Disorders: Evidence-Based Prevention and Rehabilitation provides professionals with the foundation to make the best clinical decisions for building the best prevention and rehabilitation programs. The author’s unique research results quantify forces that specific movements and exercises impose on the low back. The text identifies commonly prescribed practices that are, in fact, contraindicated in promoting back health. Additionally, it provides appropriate strategies to offset injuries and restore function. Low Back Disorders will build your understanding of the science behind appropriate practices so that you can use them effectively with clients and patients. The book presents a clear exposition of back anatomy and biomechanics. It also provides the evidence to dispel myths regarding spine stabilization exercise and various prevention approaches. For example, the quantification of stability will show which muscles are important and which exercises groove motor patterns to ensure spine stability. With Low Back Disorders, you will gain valuable information on measured loading of the back during specific activities and apply it to avoid common—but counterproductive—practices in back rehab, learn how to analyze patients’ and clients’ unique physical characteristics and lifestyle factors and tailor treatments and preventive measures to their individual needs, and learn how to help patients and clients achieve the low back stability required to prevent future damage and back pain. You'll also acquire the information necessary to prescribe effective exercises clearly and easily. The text offers practical guidelines for developing optimal exercise regimens and over 40 tests and exercises for diagnosis and prevention of low back pain, carefully selected or developed based on measured biomechanical factors. Low Back Disorders addresses in detail the ergonomic issues related to manual materials handling and injuries and low back pain associated with seated work and sport, and throughout the book it reinforces their application in functional activities.

Book Info
Univ. of Waterloo, Canada. Provides scientific evidence to optimize injury prevention and rehabilitation efforts. Designed to assist workers in preventing or rehabilitating low back troubles. Chapters contain information on how the spine works, injury mechanisms involving individual tissues, and full lumbar mechanisms. DNLM: Back Injuries--prevention & control.

About the Author
Stuart McGill, PhD, is a professor at the University of Waterloo in, Ontario, Canada and an internationally recognized lecturer and expert in spine function and injury prevention and rehabilitation. He has written more than 200 scientific publications that address lumbar function, low back injury mechanisms, investigation of tissue loading during rehabilitation programs, and the formulation of work-related injury avoidance strategies. He has received several awards for his work, including the Volvo Bioengineering Award for Low Back Pain Research from Sweden. Dr. McGill has been an invited lecturer at many universities and delivered more than 200 addresses to societies around the world. As a consultant, he has provided expertise on assessment and reduction of the risk of low back injury to government agencies, corporations, professional athletes and teams, and legal firms. He is one of the few scientists who consults and to whom patients are regularly referred.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

Low Back Disorders: Evidence-Based Prevention and Rehabilitation provides professionals with the foundation to make the best clinical decisions for building the best prevention and rehabilitation programs. The author's unique research results quantify forces that specific movements and exercises impose on the low back. The text identifies commonly prescribed practices that are, in fact, contraindicated in promoting back health. Additionally, it provides appropriate strategies to offset injuries and restore function. Low Back Disorders will build your understanding of the science behind appropriate practices so that you can use them effectively with clients and patients.

The book presents a clear exposition of back anatomy and biomechanics. It also provides the evidence to dispel myths regarding spine stabilization exercise and various prevention approaches. For example, the quantification of stability will show which muscles are important and which exercises groove motor patterns to ensure spine stability. With Low Back Disorders, you will
gain valuable information on measured loading of the back during specific activities and apply it to avoid common-but counterproductive-practices in back rehab; learn how to analyze patients' and clients' unique physical characteristics and lifestyle factors and tailor treatments and preventive measures to their individual needs; learn how to help patients and clients achieve the low back stability required to prevent future damage; and acquire the information necessary to prescribe effective exercises clearly and easily.

Low Back Disorders is well organized and easy to understand. Part 1 provides a solid foundation on how the back works and how the back becomes injured. Part 2 shows you how to use this foundation to build evidence-based prevention programs by assessing risks, creating ergonomic interventions, and training personnel. Part 3 focuses on improving rehabilitation techniques, and specifically, quantification of spine stability to determine which exercises are important for spine stability for each person.

The text offers practical guidelines for developing optimal exercise regimens and over 40 tests and exercises for diagnosis and prevention, carefully selected or developed based on measured biomechanical factors. Low Back Disorders addresses in detail the ergonomic issues related to manual materials handling and injuries associated with seated work and sport, and throughout the book it reinforces their application in functional activities.


About the Author

Stuart McGill, PhD, is a professor at the University of Waterloo in, Ontario, Canada and an internationally recognized lecturer and expert in spine function and injury prevention and rehabilitation. He has written more than 200 scientific publications that address lumbar function, low back injury mechanisms, investigation of tissue loading during rehabilitation programs, and the formulation of work-related injury avoidance strategies. He has received several awards for his work, including the Volvo Bioengineering Award for Low Back Pain Research from Sweden. Dr. McGill has been an invited lecturer at many universities and delivered more than 200 addresses to societies around the world. As a consultant, he has provided expertise on assessment and reduction of the risk of low back injury to government agencies, corporations, professional athletes and teams, and legal firms. He is one of the few scientists who consults and to whom patients are regularly referred.

SYNOPSIS

Prevention and rehabilitation approaches are presented here, helping professionals make clinical decisions for building prevention and rehabilitation programs. Based on the author's research results which quantify forces that specific movements and exercises impose on the low back, the book identifies commonly prescribed practices that are actually contraindicated and provides strategies to offset injuries and restore function. Numerous b&w photos of exercise sequences are included. McGill teaches at the University of Waterloo, Canada. Annotation (c)2003 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

FROM THE CRITICS

Doody Review Services

Reviewer: Chris Hughes, PT, PhD, OCS, CSCS (Slippery Rock University)Description: This book reviews the functional anatomy of the lumbar spine and applies the latest research findings in this area to the prevention and rehabilitation of low back dysfunction.Purpose: The author's intent is to provide the reader with "the best available scientific evidence to optimize injury prevention and rehabilitation" for low back function. The author attempts to bridge the gap between research findings and clinical application in this area. This is an admirable objective and the author has done an excellent job in stating his case for using an evidence-based approach for preventing low back pathology and also providing guidelines for effective exercise prescriptions for this problem area.Audience: This book is applicable for a wide audience of professionals including, therapists, athletic trainers, ergonomists, strength and conditioning professionals, and others who work in the area of low back injury prevention and rehabilitation. The author is an award-winning scholar and academician who is well published in the area of lumbar spine mechanics and ergonomics. He also consults for a number of agencies and corporations in the area of risk reduction and injury management. The author's unique background makes him well-suited for publishing in this area of study.Features: Three major sections are included in the book. The first section is comprised of six chapters that cover the scientific aspects of understanding low back pain. The second section consists of four chapter and is dedicated to injury prevention and alsodiscusses various biomechanical models and the NIOSH approach to risk assessment. There is also a discussion on the use of back belts. The final section covers rehabilitation and exercise considerations based on the evidence presented in the previous sections. This section is unique and very useful in mapping out a strategy to apply the didactic information presented in the previous sections. Assessment: This work is an original contribution to the field of rehabilitation of the lumbar spine. The author successfully blends science and clinical application and has presented this information in an easy-to-read format. Very few books have been able to present such a balance of practical information that compiles scientific facts and dispels dogma in the process. The book is hard to put down and provides enjoyable reading if one desires evidence-based information on the rehabilitation and prevention of injuries of the lumbar spine. I highly recommend the book for clinicians who routinely prescribe exercises for low back pain.

RATING