One of the few textbooks worth having...

For those of who identify with evidence-based practice, you should not be a big fan of textbooks, instead preferring to stay up-to-date by reading clinically relevant research published in the peer-reviewed literature. Sackett in fact advised in the "little blue book" (or "red book", I can't recall which one) that we burn most of our textbooks since most of them are no longer current by the time they reach our bookshelf and rarely are based on the available evidence in the first place.

A rare exception to the rule has just been published - Josh Cleland's textbook Orthopaedic Clinical Examination: An Evidence Based Approach for Physical Therapists. This text will quickly outpace its competition (no need to mention names) because of the user-friendly evidence tables that are replete with useful diagnostic accuracy statistics (sensitivity, specificity, and postive and negative likelihood ratios) and precise operational definitions of test procedures. More than just a laundry list of every test known to mankind, you can begin to hone your exam to include only the most powerful clinical examination procedures. Josh is a good friend and colleague of ours, so feel free to take my recommendation with a grain of salt. Check it out yourself at http://store.netterart.com/1929007876.html. Unlike almost all other textbooks you may own, I assure you this is one textbook that will regularly come off your shelf.

John

Comments

[Britt Smith]

A small caveat on the Sackett statement 'burn your textbooks.' The key authors/developers/promoters of the EBP model have modified this comment: burn your textbooks on foreground questions, because these texts are woefully slow to respond to changes in research finding (14-17 yr lag in evidence of effectiveness to practice); however, keep books on Background questions & evidence, which is more stable or slower to change. Josh's book certainly hangs nicely with the foreground information (ah, an exception!!!) with state-of-the-art information; however, the timelessness (and some flaws) of Frank Netter's illustrations demonstrates the stability of a background source of knowledge.
CONGRATULATIONS Josh on a great text!!!
Britt

[Britt Smith]

A small caveat on the Sackett statement 'burn your textbooks.' The key authors/developers/promoters of the EBP model have modified this comment: burn your textbooks on foreground questions, because these texts are woefully slow to respond to changes in research finding (14-17 yr lag in evidence of effectiveness to practice); however, keep books on Background questions & evidence, which is more stable or slower to change. Josh's book certainly hangs nicely with the foreground information (ah, an exception!!!) with state-of-the-art information; however, the timelessness & general accuracy (with some forgiveable flaws) of Frank Netter's illustrations demonstrates the stability of a background source of knowledge.
CONGRATULATIONS Josh on successfuly marrying the foreground with the background, like a great piece of visual art, producing a great textbook!!!
Britt