Customer Reviews

Orthopedic Physical Assessment, 4e

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I bought this textbook together with Ferri's Clinical advisor with great enthusiasm. Though this book has fewer contributors, it offers enormous amount of information on physical assessment. Other than the reference pages at the end of each chapter, you cannot spot a single page that does not have a drawing, a photograph, charts, tables, or tips. You cannot resist but feel great appreciation to the hard work invested in this masterpiece.

In the era of Internet, when many folks opted to stay away from books, this book's style offers very competitive alternative to electronic media. The only drawback is its blurred black and white photos. Although the author attempted to compensate for such deficit by many informative drawings, yet better quality photos help contemporary readers to stay focused longer during reading.

Of course, the book is about physical assessment so it stops short of complete orthopedic textbook. Each joint is discussed in terms of its applied anatomy, history taking, examination, and ends by case studies, followed by extensive lists of references. In addition to regional assessments of joints, chapters 14 and 15 discuss the assessment of gait and posture, chapter 16 of the amputee, chapter 17 of emergency sports, and chapter 18 of physical evaluation prior to participation in sport. The eighteen chapters extend over a 1000 large sized pages with two color printing, which make its reading a breathe.

It was probably my fault for not giving the book 5 stars. I was expecting a book that would be a little easier to use in practice. This book does a really good job of giving various physical exam tests. It has lots of good pictures and other graphics. My two complaints, and what bumped this book down to a 4 instead of a 5, is that it is a little too "all over the place" with the exam. I would have preferred a book that helped me to focus. In that respect, Cooper's Pocket Guide and Hoppenfeld's physical exam book are much better. Also, I would have liked to have some treatment sections in this book. Still, all in all it's a good buy.

I thought this was an excellent exam book. I preferred Hoppenfeld's book, though there is less info. Of all the ones I've read, the best is still Pocket Guide to Musculoskeletal Diagnosis. I think Magee's is better for a reference. Pocket Guide to MSK Dx is better for daily use.

Offers all the standard special tests that you could ask for, and a whole wack of other unproven diagnsotic tests. Doens't really provide evidence for many of the special tests listed, or the psychometric properties (such as specificity, sensitivity, reliability etc) which are necessary for evidence based practice. Third edition was somewhat more concise and didnt include a lot of the "useless" diagnostic tests which appear in the lateset edition and only serve to confuse the reader.

This is the best orthopedic exam textbook I've found. It has good illustrations, is very inclusive in its content, and is well organized. You could think of it as a sort of illustrated orthopedic examination encyclopedia. It's a bit burdensome to read (and carry) because of its inclusiveness nature. So don't think you'll be carrying this one in your pocket for each exam. However, you'll be glad you have it on your shelf for reference. Great work Magee! This one is well worth purchasing. Especially if you are thinking of, or can afford, only buying one orthopedic examination reference. Lastly, don't expect treatment therapies from this book. It is purely diagnostic.

NOTE: Beware! At the time of this writing there was another Amazon page with other sellers selling some sort of "enhanced" version for ~$115 instead of the $80 that you'll find on the main page. I can't see any difference in the two as both come with the CD-ROM. Don't overpay. Even bookstore listing of this book with CD is $80.

Evan Sundgren
Doctor of Chiropractic

An absolute need for Physical Therapists in the orthopedic and/or sports medicine field. If you have a version over 10 years old, I highly recommend you upgrade to this one. There is new stuff and great pictures!

Everyone refers to it. You need it. Buy it. Keep it. Refer to it.

it about one month to get it,but i saved a little money, and it's a wonderful book!

I really enjoy this book; it is helping me understand how to find different possibilities of problems in the body.

This book is an excellent source of information especially for special tests for a variety of dysfunctions