Orthopedic Differential Diagnosis in Physical Therapy - A Case Study Approach:
"It's rare to find a resource that can serve you both in training and throughout your clinical practice, but Meadows' ORTHOPEDIC DIFFERENTIAL DIAGNOSIS IN PHYSICAL THERAPY does just that. Using a unique intereactive case study approach, the text introduces you to the clinical reasoning behind orthopedic therapy and builds these skills in a seamless progression to the most challenging clinical situations.

Coverage starts with a detailed review of nonsurgical orthopedic physical therapy, including - differential diagnois - biomechanical examination - formation of a patient management plan and - clinical decision making. Next, you'll see these principles brought to life in a myriad of case studies.

What makes each case study unique is its interactive format. After a review of initial history and clinical findings, you're invited to offer your opinion on diagnosis and therapeutic strategy. Then, the case resumes and provides a partial solution in which the patient's response to therapy is noted. Again, your critique of the clinical strategy is invited.

Finally, the last section of the book provides solutions for each case and reviews diagnosis and the most appropriate course of action. By progressing through each case and having the chance to interject your own opinions and clinical strategies, your learning experience is enriched. You'll find yourself truning back to this text throughout your professional career whenever you need to sharpen your diagnostic skills."

You do not very often get the opportunity to publicly thank those people to whom you owe a life debt. Of course acknowledgments are not there for the general readership but for the people being thanked and for the author. Also by naming specific people you do at least have the chance of them buying the book even if nobody else does. My apologies in advance to the readers if this list appears overly long but I intend to take advantage of this opportunity to thank these and of course you can always turn the page.

I would like to thank all of the people who have over the years helped form this version of Jim Meadows and to remind them that there is probably more blame than credit in the achievement. Having been involved in physiotherapy (or physical therapy for my American cousins) for nearly thirty years I have met a great number of people, mostly to advantage, who have had an impact on my professional development. Many of these people I am proud to know and number among my closest friends. There are also many people that I have never met in person but whose writings have shaped the way I think and act. Unfortunately, the sheer number of people involved prohibits me naming them all, so I hope those who I do not include will forgive the lack of space and believe that it is not that they are not important to me. However, to those who I have not named, and you know who you are, be assured that I do thank you.

First James Cyriax who started me thinking about what I was actually doing. The late David Lamb who was as complete a physiotherapist as you could ever meet. Rolf Lauvik who first really showed me how effective manual therapy could be. Mike White who talked me into taking the Canadian manual therapy exams and then worked hard to make sure that I passed them. Lani Alington who continually nags and tries to improve me, usually beyond the limits of her frustration. Cliff Fowler who has a pair of the best hands in the business and who is not reluctant to call me an idiot when he feels it necessary. Erl Pettman who taught me how to teach. Diane Lee who is one of the most productive people I know and who has managed to balance a busy personal life with a rich understanding of her profession. Bob Sydenham who is clinically and politically one of the most astute physiotherapists that I have met and Gaye Sydenham who has to put up with him, I often wonder who keeps winding her spring. They have both made me more of a political animal than I ever wanted to be. David Magee who, to me, is the model that most academics should try to emulate in that he strives constantly for clinical relevance. Sharon Warren who showed me that it is possible to be a researcher and retain huge amounts of common sense. Rick Adams who, when it comes to work and our profession, has no sense of moderation. Barrett Dorko and John Medeiros both of whom I brush up against periodically at all too long intervals but who manage in a few hours to get me up and running again. Patty Mayer, Sue Saretski and Gerry Bellows who keep me working and in touch with patients when I am in Calgary. Stanley Paris to whom the manual therapists in the United States owe a massive debt of gratitude and who is, for me, the epitome of effectiveness. Gail Molloy who is one of the hardest working of my colleagues and who, by unconsciously putting me to shame, can get me to do things that I do not have time for. Lance Twomey who shares the same distinction that David Magee possess and is in every sense a gentleman and the one person I would like to be more like. Mike Rogers who has a remarkable work ethic and a very strongly developed sense of right and wrong. Richard Bourassa who has assisted me on many courses and who has tolerated, to an amazing degree, my jokes at his expense. He has demonstrated to me what an ethical therapist truly is. Jim Doree who designed and runs my website, and apparently doesn't know that there is only room for physiotherapy in our lives. Mike Sutton who has the greatest natural enthusiasm and exuberance that I have ever come across showed me not to be concerned with what others thought of you providing you believe that you are doing the right thing. Gwen Parrott who has absolutely no problem disagreeing with me and letting me know it in no uncertain terms and who constantly challenges me for the facts; and to her husband Jaime who contributes to my income via the occasional poker game in Louisville. My colleagues at the North American Institute of Orthopedic Manual Therapy including Bill Temes, Ann Porter-Hoke, Kathy Stupanski, Bill O'Grady, David Deppler, Steve Allen, Kent and Shari Kyser, Alexa Dobbs and the rest of the gang.

There are many memorable past and current students who have kept and still do keep me on my toes. In no particular order these include Rebecca Lowe, Pat Chapman, Dana Vansant, Mark Dutton, Amy Brooks, Jeff Brosseau, Chuck Hazel, Julie Gallagher, Brian Macks, Gray Cook, Shannon Doig, Mary Galatas, Randy Harms, Blaine McKie, Dawn McConkey, Colleen McDonald, Judy Black, Lorrie Maffy-Ward, Maureen Mooney, Roberto Pelosi, Myron Sorestad, Christine Wolcott, Suzanne Yakabowitch, Paul Jozefczyk, Fred Smit, Marcel Giguere, Tara Conner, Chris Soper, Audrey Bjornstad, Terry Brown, Anne Clouthier, Nathelie Savard, Heather Bryant, Jan Hodge, Joe Kelly, Gisele Le Blanc, Ralph Simpson, Korryn Wiese and many more whose faces I remember but whose names sadly are gone from my ever increasingly evasive memory.

Steve Zollo McGraw-Hill's medical acquisitions editor who convinced me that this would an easy undertaking. Right! Anne Seitz of York Graphics who's editing ensured that the book was at least legible to the English reading person. I would also like to thank the two reviewers of an early draft of the book, Elizabeth R. Ikeda, MS, PT Assistant Professor Physical Therapy Department, University of Montana and Robert Johnson, MS, PT Loop Spine & Sports Therapy and clinical faculty at the Department of Physical Therapy, Northwestern University, whose ideas I took to heart and, for the most part, incorporated into the book, assuring a better product than it would have been without their recommendations.

Finally and most importantly to my family, Sue my wife and Andrew and Matthew my children. It was Sue who motivated me to write this book by saying that I could buy a new computer if I did so. Thank you all for putting up with me at any time but especially during the period I was writing this book.