Joint Stiffness of the Upper Limb Edited by S.A. Copeland, N. Gschwend, A. Landi and P. Saffar. London, Martin Dunitz, 1997. ISBN 1–85317–414–9. Price £75, hardback.
Abstract
According to the authors, two Canadian trained surgeons now practising in the USA, this book arose from their frustrations with the standard of radiography in their own institutions, which had failed to match that of the centres in which they had undertaken hand fellowships. Their aim was to provide a manual for the technologist (radiographer) that would "save ourselves telephone calls and personal trips with the patient lo the radiology department while saving the patients the repeated X-ray exposure and cost." They claim that it is not their intention to educate the technologist in radiography but to provide precise directions for the technologist to produce reproducible and informative views of the hand and wrist. A clinical practice that strives to minimize contact with investigative departments or to obtain quality radiography by showing a radiographer photocopies of the pages in this manual might explain the frustration from which the project apparently originated. The use of the book in the manner recommended would be unappealing to many British: European and, I suspect, many North American surgeons The manuai comprehensively covers the positions that may be used to obtain radiographs of specific bones and joints in the hand and wrist. On