Book, Multimedia,

and Software Reviews

Spinal Deformities:
The Essentials
Heary RF, Albert TJ, eds. New York, NY 10001,
Thieme, 2007, hardcover, 320 pp, illus, ISBN:
978-1-58890-341-9, $119.95.
This textbook is written for residents
and fellows in neurosurgery and or-
thopedic surgery. It includes contri-
butions from more than 50 experts
in these 2 fields. The book is divided
into 2 sections: “Principles of Spi-
The treatment section consists of 15
chapters—two thirds of the book—
and focuses on surgical procedures
that correct specific spinal deformi-
ties. Brief descriptions of the defor-
mities are presented in the chapters
on congenital scoliosis, infantile
scoliosis, neuromuscular scoliosis,
Scheuermann kyphosis, and spon-
dylolisthesis. Some of these chap-
ters also include short sections on
spinal deformities, as well as some
photos of patients with deformities.
The chapters are well referenced, but
most references are to surgical jour-
nals. Physical therapy is mentioned
in the first chapter as an integral part
of a trial of conservative treatment
prior to surgical intervention and
again as a component of postopera-
tive care; however, for the most part,
references to physical therapy are

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nal Deformities” and “Treatment of
Spinal Deformities.” The principles
section consists of 11 chapters, in-
cluding chapters on the natural
history of spinal deformities, di-
agnosis, screening procedures for
spinal surgery, surgical anesthesia,
and intraoperative neuromonitoring.
Chapter 1, “Overview of Spinal De-
formity,” emphasizes the differences
between adult and adolescent spinal
deformities and provides a brief in-
troduction to the concepts of fixed
versus flexible deformities and the
dynamic interaction of coronal plane
and sagittal plane deformations.
Chapter 5, “Anatomical Variants with
Spinal Deformity,” discusses physi-
cal changes in the axial skeleton
and associated vascular structures
that occur in different spinal defor-
mities; and chapter 7, “Principles of
Sagittal Plane Deformity,” includes
a brief introduction to normal spi-
nal curvatures and the changes that
occur with age.
nonoperative treatment, such as
serial casting for infantile scolio-
sis and bracing for neuromuscular
scoliosis. The last chapter, “Brac-
ing and Nonoperative Treatment of
Spinal Deformity,” concentrates on
treatments using braces. It provides
a summary of the biomechanical
principles of spinal bracing, the dif-
ferent types of braces, and the spi-
nal deformities for which bracing is
indicated.
This is a well-written textbook in-
tended for neurological surgery and
orthopedic surgery fellows and resi-
dents. It contains numerous plain ra-
diographic, computed tomographic,
and magnetic resonance images of
scattered throughout the book and
are brief, without discussions of spe-
cific techniques. This book contains
interesting information on the anato-
my, natural history, and surgical cor-
rection of spinal deformities, but the
majority of the topics are likely to
be of only academic interest to most
physical therapists.
William A Roy
WA Roy, PT, PhD, is an Associate Professor of
Basic Sciences in the College of Osteopathic
Medicine, Touro University Nevada,
Henderson, NV.
[DOI: 10.2522/ptj.2008.88.2.295]

THE STRENGTH TO HEAL

and protect what’s important.
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February 2008 Volume 88 Number 2 Physical Therapy ■ 295