Review: Owners Manual for Injury Prevention (Volume 1)

Author: Bruce Kaler, M.D.
ISBN: 9781453770986
Publisher: Createspace

With over thirty years of diverse clinical experience and expertise in work related injuries and healthcare, Dr. Bruce Kaler provides his readers with his Owners Manual for Injury Prevention some great advice for understanding the frequency and prevention of common medical problems that occur at work or play. It is his hope that with the understanding of these principles combined with the taking of a pro-active approach, readers will be able to prevent some of these injuries and facilitate their treatments, should they experience an injury. According to Dr. Kaler's opening remarks, “Should you become injured, having some background information about the problem will go a long way to insure you make better choices about your care. Being an informed participant can make a big difference in your successful recovery and preventing accidents.”

The 109- page manual covers a great deal of territory and is divided into twenty-seven chapters dealing with injuries related to the back, neck, head, should, elbow, ankle, knee, foot, as well as carpal tunnel syndrome, traumatic hand injury, eye protection, hearing conservation, ergonomics, dynamic stretching, safety conce
ing lawn mowers and ladder, respiratory use, Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) infections, infection control, sleep apnea, deep vein thrombosis, hernia, allergies, sun protection, contact dermatitis, burns and stress management.

The majority of chapters begin with a description of the body part that may be injured, continues with a brief definition and explanation of the injury or illness, and then proceeds to briefly explore its treatments and possible prevention. For example, if we look at the chapter dealing with back injury, we are informed that approximately 90% of adults will likely experience back injury sometime in their lifetime. And, as pointed out, $20 billion dollars a year in the USA are for back injuries. With a little understanding of our backs, we may be able to help protect it from injury and if we should need treatment for an injury, Dr. Kaler explains the different possibilities in clear concise terms.

In the chapter dealing with allergies, Dr,. Kaler provides some great tips in helping us deal with them such as avoiding known allergens, changing your bedding weekly, adding moisture to your living quarters, taking your allergy medicine regularly and consulting your health provider if you still cannot gain control and a functional level of comfort. Another very illuminating chapter is Dynamic Stretching where we are told that the old school of stretching and lengthening the muscle tendon groups prior to exercise actually has proven to be more detrimental and increases the chance of injury. On the other hand, dynamic stretching, which is a gently performed series of leg and arm swings in a smooth controlled manner, can prove to be more beneficial than static stretching because this technique prepares the muscles for the shortening and lengthening motion that they are about to endure.

Although Owners Manual for Injury Prevention is not meant as a substitute for seeking advice from a health care provider, it nonetheless serves as a user-friendly practical, layman's guide that helps us make sense of some of the more common injuries that we are used to hearing about every day and how we can prevent them. It is one of those books that is important for its abundance of information presented in a capsule format bringing into focus the big picture conce
ing common injuries and their avoidance. In addition, its principal strength lies in the fact that readers can skip around taking as much or as little information from it as they like, although it would have been more helpful if an index was also included.

Many of us are not aware that there are over four million workplace injuries a year that occur across all industries in the USA, and we should add to these the vast numbers that occur at home as well as in recreational activities. Don't we owe it to ourselves to learn something about these injuries, their treatment, and deterrence?