The second edition of Exercise and Disease Management is a great resource for students, new graduates, and experienced clinicians whose practice encompasses a diverse patient population. Written as a teaching and managing resource that emphasizes exercise prescription for physicians and other medical professionals, this volume features a question-and-answer section at the end of each chapter designed to help patients understand their disease, a ready-to-use exercise prescription resource page at the end of each chapter, and an accompanying CD with patient workbooks designed to facilitate self-management.
Overall, this is a well-organized and detailed overview and a useful reference for those seeking to augment their clinical knowledge and gain a better understanding of various chronic conditions and special populations. Chapters 1–9 deal with chronic conditions, while chapters 10–14 provide exercise guidelines for special populations. The chapters follow an organized framework: a brief background, medical management, specific considerations for exercise, and exercise prescription. The format of the exercise prescription is similar to the FITT principle, addressing frequency, intensity, time, and type of exercise appropriate for each patient population. The authors consistently provide examples of modalities for aerobic activity, but their recommendations for resistance training require clinicians to apply their own knowledge of exercise. The book is therefore better suited to clinicians looking for a guiding framework within which they can effectively apply current clinical expertise than for those looking to expand their exercise reserve.
The book's clinical utility is enhanced by the continuum of clinical integration, from the pathophysiology of the disease to exercise guidelines and recommended reading. Each chapter concludes with a section on common questions, written from a patient's perspective, that guides the reader to consider strategies for communicating the medical content to the patient population.
The accompanying CD contains 11 condition-specific patient workbooks, corresponding to the first 11 chapters of the book. Each workbook contains the same preface, an alternative medicine summary, and a self-care overview. Sections tailored specifically to the condition address guidelines for aerobic and resistance training. These workbooks are heavily influenced by a physician perspective and do not expand on the benefits of physical therapy specifically, beyond mentioning the physical therapist as a medical professional who may be involved in the patient's care. Because they are modifiable, however, relevant sections can be adapted and presented through a physical therapy lens, or revised as a resource for physical therapists to use with their clients as a self-management tool.
While it remains a comprehensive reference, Exercise and Disease Management is directed to a physician audience, which explains its assumption that “very few physicians and healthcare professionals ask their patients about exercise; fewer of them know how exercise modifies health and disease and how to prescribe exercise” (p. xix). Furthermore, because the content is American, statistics surrounding prevalence rates, economic costs, and mortality rates cannot be generalized beyond the population of the United States.
Overall, Exercise and Disease Management will be valuable to both new graduates and experienced clinicians as a comprehensive reference resource for multiple chronic conditions and special populations commonly seen in physical therapy. Therapists who use this resource will supplement the material presented with their knowledge of exercise programmes and principles to design optimal exercise programmes for a variety of patient populations.