Textbook of Sports Medicine: Basic Science and Clinical Aspects of Sports Injury and Physical Activity

Textbook of Sports Medicine: Basic Science and Clinical Aspects of Sports Injury and Physical Activity. Eds Michael Kjaer, Michael Krogsgaard, Peter Magnusson, Lars Engebretsen, Harald Roos, Timo Takala, Savio L-Y Woo. Blackwell Science, £89.50, pp 808. ISBN 0 632 06509 5. Rating: ★★★★

Heaving, pumping, lifting, pushing, sweating, stretching, jumping, sprinting—all are drawn together in the ultimate performance. This book is an exceptional achievement, showing, once again, that the Scandinavians lead the field in academic sports medicine. The authors all come from Nordic countries or have strong links with them. And it shows. Astrand and Rodahl, the first household names in sports science, have worthy successors.

While the rest of the world dabbled, our Scandinavian colleagues addressed the serious issues in sports medicine. After years in the doldrums, sports science has clearly found direction. Like human performance itself, sports science did not evolve gradually but with sudden leaps in performance between periods of little progress. This book sets a new standard.

But these authors have achieved more than simple words on a page. Roald Bahr, through his research, changed the rules in volleyball. Willem Van Mechelen made us look seriously at the value of warm up. Renstrom, Saltin, Kannus, Vuori, Pedersen changed clinical sports medicine. And the others are the A list in academia—scientists who brought us pioneering research on erythropoeitin, muscle physiology, the histology of tendons. Each chapter begins by listing the seminal paper in the field. Modesty forbids the authors from citing their own works but they have led developments across many aspects of the discipline.

Nowhere have there been more developments than in disabled sports, a particular interest of the leading editor. The photographs alone reflect new thinking.

There is a refreshingly candid chapter on ergogenic aids. At a time when athlete Carl Lewis makes headlines for an alleged doping cover up, this chapter does not shirk from confirming what we all know—drugs can improve performance. This chapter also discusses the uncertainties in test results and the subsequent judgments. It is not as simple or straightforward as the tabloids tell us.

As a jogger whose best performances are history, I searched for the secret of success in the chapters on physiology. But all I could find was the depressingly frank chapter on ageing to confirm my inevitable decline. The only bright note was the introductory paragraph discussing Maria Fiatarone's fascinating research on increase in muscle strength through training in nonagenarians. And I looked for advances in women's sport to see what made Paula Radcliffe the fastest Briton, male or female, in the London marathon. No magic formula, simply talent. The delicate sex no longer.

Are there any shortfalls? Relentless excellence can be tedious at times. This is not bedtime reading, but more for a short burst of brain exercise—hardly a serious fault.