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Treatment and Rehabilitation of Fractures. Stanley Hoppenfeld and Vasantha L. Murthy, editors. Philadelphia: Lippincott Williams and Wilkins 2000. 606 pages. $59.00.
Stanley Hoppenfeld's familiar texts on physical diagnosis and surgical anatomy have helped to educate several generations of North American orthopaedic surgery residents. The current book, which Hoppenfeld coedited with his colleague, Vasantha Murthy, MD, who is an assistant clinical professor of rehabilitation medicine at Albert Einstein College of Medicine, represents an interesting attempt to merge the disciplines of rehabilitation and orthopaedic surgery in order to promote optimal treatment of fractures.
The intended audience is not clearly specified, but the text presumably is geared toward residents in orthopaedic surgery and physiatry. It might also be a useful addition to a departmental library.
The book begins with an introductory section reviewing fracture-healing, biomechanics, and treatment options, including exercises, modalities, assistive devices, braces, and splints. Chapters on gait and open fractures are also included in this section. The remainder of the text is devoted to systematic discussions of fractures of the upper and lower extremities and the spine; pelvic and acetabular fractures are not covered. The editors suggest reading these sections "fracture by fracture on an...