Nerve and Vascular Injuries in Sports Medicine

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.

This book takes a comprehensive approach to diagnosing and treating nerve and vascular injuries in athletes. With guidelines written by experts in the field, this is an ideal resource for sports medicine physicians, athletic trainers and physical therapists.

This book takes a comprehensive approach to diagnosing and treating nerve and vascular injuries in athletes. Readers will learn how to identify symptoms and accurately diagnose injuries to the spine and extremities. Chapters cover anatomy and pathophysiology, mechanisms of injury, classification systems, and physical exam and diagnostics. Algorithms aid with differential diagnosis, and cases facilitate the ready integration of concepts into clinical practice. Evidence-based support for treatment recommendations is provided where appropriate. This book is an ideal resource for sports medicine physicians, athletic trainers and physical therapists.

Anatomy, pathophysiology, and diagnosis.- Causes of Numbness and Tingling in Athletes.- Diagnostic Tests for Nerve and Vascular Injuries.- Magnetic Resonance Neurography.- Physical Examination of the Peripheral Nerves and Vasculature.- Athletic Kinetic Chain Concepts in Nerve and Vascular Injuries.- Upper limb syndromes.- Peripheral Nerve Injuries of the Elbow, Forearm, and Hand.- Peripheral Nerve Injuries of the Shoulder and Upper Arm.- Thoracic Outlet Syndrome.- Stingers: Understanding the Mechanism, Diagnosis, Treatment, and Prevention.- Lower limb syndromes.- Peripheral Nerve Entrapment and Compartment Syndromes of the Lower Leg.- Peripheral Nerve Injuries of the Proximal Lower Limb in Athletes.- Lumbar Radicular and Referred Pain in the Athlete.- Vascular Injuries in the Lower Limb of Athletes.