The Encyclopedia of the Back and Spine Systems and Disorders (Facts on File Library of Health & Living) [Hardcover]

Mary Harwell Sayler (Author), Arya Nick Shamie (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

Ninety percent of Americans will be affected by back or neck pain at some point in their lives. Thirty-three percent of them will seek medical treatment within the next five years. If these folks had read through The Encyclopedia of the Back and Spine Systems and Disorders, then they would know that most of the incidents will heal themselves with time and rest. The other cases are the basis for the entries in the encyclopedia. More than 250 entries cover anatomy, injuries, diseases, disorders, treatments, exercise, and current research. Articles are easy to understand but still provide the reader a thorough look at the topic. Entries for illnesses or disorders discuss symptoms and diagnostic path, treatment options and outlook, and risk factors and preventive measures. Each article on a drug or treatment covers potential side effects and statistics or studies available on the treatment. See references are provided for common names of conditions or illnesses, so that someone seeking information on dowager’s hump knows to look under Kyphosis to learn about curvature of the spine. Though both adults and children can develop the disorder, the difference is the causation. There is an extensive directory of organizations that provide support and research, and URLs are included. An index offers numerous points of entry to the text for terms covered in larger articles, though a common term used by physicians, myelopathy, is neither defined under M nor included in the index. (The word was eventually located under the heading Cervical spondylotic myelopathy.) There is no listing for vacuolar myelopathy (a condition in which the myelin sheath separates from the spinal cord, forming cavities, or vacuoles), which affects some AIDS patients.  Overall, this is a good title and will be well used, since the majority of us will need its information sometime in our lives. Recommended for consumer-health collections. --Steve Stratton

Product Details

• Hardcover: 354 pages
• Publisher: Facts on File; 1 edition (September 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0816066787
• ISBN-13: 978-0816066780
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 7.5 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,991,263 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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