Muscle Pain: Understanding Its Nature, Diagnosis and Treatment

From The Critics

Reviewer: MaryLouise Tomyanovich, MD(University of Illinois at Chicago College of Medicine)
Description: The scientific basis of muscle pain is sufficiently understood to begin closing the gap between clinical and basic science research.
Purpose: The primary purpose of this book is to present an overview of clinical diseases and syndromes associated with muscle pain, and to combine the clinical perspective with more recent neurophysiologic and neuroanatomic research. This is a worthy objective since improved understanding of basic mechanisms of muscle pain should lead to improved treatments and patient care.
Audience: This book is written for the practicing specialist, particularly physiatrists and neurologists who treat muscle pain and especially those trained in electrodiagnosis. The authors have been collaborating on this project for over 20 years since the Second World Congress of Pain.
Features: This is a comprehensive compendium of the neuroscience of muscle pain including the central and peripheral pathways. The pathophysiologic basis of muscle pain is particularly well illustrated. The diagrams are clear and instructive. At times, depth and duration of time spent for understanding may seem excessive for busy clinicians.
Assessment: This book is unique in its focus. The basic and applied scientific diagrams are well done. It is a significant contribution to the literature highlighting the multifractorial aspects of generation of muscle pain. Most of the clinical information may be found elsewhere but the integration of pathophysiology is its special contribution.

New England Journal Of Medicine

I highly recommend Muscle Pain to any physician who treats these disorders or wishes to review the growing body of knowledge about their neurobiologic and pathophysiologic features. This book will be of special interest to pain specialists, neurologists, neurosurgeons, rheumatologists, orthopedists, and physiatrists.

Booknews

In recent years, massive amounts of data have accumulated on the components of pain pathways, and concurrently knowledge of muscle pain in the field of neurobiology has increased markedly. This book, a collection of much of this data, aims to serve as an overview of the many diseases and syndromes associated with muscle pain, and to combine the clinical view with new concepts based on neuroanatomic and electrophysiologic research. Topics covered include local and neuropathic muscular pain, mediated and postural muscle pain, central and centrally modified pain, myofascial pain caused by trigger points, and fibromyalgia syndrome. Heavily illustrated. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

3 Stars from Doody