Reviews

See #T-168 on the Preferred Reading and Viewing List, pages 40-41 for ordering information.

The purpose of this text is and I quote, "To provide an accurate and complete text for students studying the spine, spinal cord, and autonomic nervous system; to serve as a reliable reference to spinal anatomy and related neuroanatomy for clinicians and researchers; to help bridge the gap between the basic science of anatomy and the applied anatomy of clinical practice."

This text does exactly that and will serve the reader well, whether student or graduate. For the student this text will allow you to appreciate the relationships and interactions between the nervous system and the musculoskeletal system. It will also make obvious to you that the subluxation can be other than in the spine and why it is important for you to be knowledgeable about the entire human body and its complex set of interrelated communications. For the doctor it will bring you up-to-date with respect to the new literature and real function of the nervous system. Small items like, "When does the atlas become the atlas?" and "When are the sacroiliac joints really there?" are covered in detail. If you are treating children, and I hope you are, this text will open your eyes to the obvious.

This text has tried to cover many areas and for the most part has done a fantastic job, however, for some unknown reason it states, on page 253: "... proprioceptors (excluding the vestibular system of the inner ear) are located in the joints, muscles and tendons." If this were true then one could ask for the names of the receptors that sense this "so called" proprioceptive function. Is this a "picky little point" -- no, not at all! This past July in Washington, D.C. Dr. Bogduk was asked this very question and he responded by asking for the names of the receptors that sense this proprioception. Needless to say that no one could come up with an answer, because we do not have any proprioceptive endings. Proprioception is a perception, the net result of afferent input. The correct term should be mechanoreceptors. These are found in skin, muscles, and joints. Chiropractic must stop using ill- defined terms because when we do we take the next step backward and make unsubstantiated claims.

I could find only great things in this text and except the above small item, I can highly recommend this text for all doctors and students of chiropractic.

Innes Rating: 9 out of 10

Title:        Orthopedic and Neurologic Tests
Author:       R.C. Shafer, DC, PhD, FICC
Publisher:    ACA Press
Rt. 2, Cedar Lake Box 163
Hinton, OK 73047
Publication:  student and doctor education
Format:       diskette

The program also contains an alphabetical listing of all the tests and signs with descriptions of how to perform the test, positive and negative findings, and indications. It is a very comprehensive list.

The key to this type of program is the ease with which a doctor or student can locate the information they need quickly and efficiently. In that regard I was disappointed. Although you can conduct a search of key terms, it is not as efficient as I would like to see it. First you must phrase your search from the list of key terms provided. For example, "low back pain" provides different references than "low-back pain." The search feature simply looks at every entry which exactly matches your request. It would be more usable if the search could be more defined to the type of information sought. At this stage of its development, this type of program is only slightly faster than using a textbook. It does, as the promotional literature states, take up much less room.

I think this is a great first step, but still just a first step.

Savoie Rating: 7 out of 10

DC