Nerve and Vascular Injuries in Sports Medicine

Book excerpt: The field of sports medicine covers a tremendous territory. Athletes present to their physician with everything from sprained ankles to bowel problems while running. Many of the classic textbooks in sports medicine cover many of these issues in a cursory way. Two major organ systems that account for many injuries in athletes are the nervous system and the vascular system. Because of their widespread, diffuse nature, athletes can present with myriad signs and symptoms related to these systems. Drs. Akuthota and Herring have done an outstanding job in their textbook Nerve and Vascular Injuries in Sports Medicine to produce a commonsense, yet thorough, approach to potential nerve and vascular injuries in athletes. The text provides any physician or clinician who evaluates and treats athletes with a clear path to an appropriate history, physical examination, imaging studies, and electrophysiologic and vascular examinations of any athlete with potential nerve or vascular injuries. The first third of the book describes the appropriate evaluation of athletes with nerve and vascular symptoms and signs. Emphasis is placed on kinetic chain contributions to nerve and vascular injuries to address not only the cause of the injury but possible associated, contributing biomechanical deficiencies. The last two-thirds of the book cover regional specific nerve and vascular injuries with special attention to stingers, thoracic outlet syndrome, lumbar radiculopathy, and compartment syndromes.