advances in exercise immunology

Physiotherapy July 2001/vol 87/no 7

385Book reviews

Wiley, Chichester1999 (ISBN 0 471 98437 X)edited by Joanne L Fallowfield and David M Wilkinson

£14.99This book is in effect a scientific bible aimed at guiding thepreparation of middle and long distance runners. It is thefirst in a series directed at ‘Improving Sports Performance’and is specifically for athletes, coaches and sports sciencestudents.

The authors have presented their subject in clearlydefined sections, a thorough background introductionfollowed by specialist chapters covering the major areas thatinfluence performance: physiology, psychology, training,physiological assessment, tissue damage, nutrition andenvironmental factors. This is a technical text and therefore

highly scientific with supporting diagrams and wellreferenced.

Each chapter is sub-divided highlighting the major subjectareas and is summarised by a key points section at the end.An interesting and useful addition is the introduction oftechnical boxes throughout the text. These emphasise andhighlight a specific point of importance to the reader.

The book as mentioned is highly scientific andunfortunately like most texts of this type is quite heavyreading, especially for those of us without a sports sciencebackground. For a physiotherapist or sports medicinepractitioner this would not be a cover-to-cover read; it ismore suited as an on-the-shelf reference guide. I do not seeit having a place in the average physiotherapy department,however it would be a useful addition to a specialist sportsclinic library.

In summary I feel that the editors have achieved theirobjective in providing a comprehensive text appropriate fortheir identified target readership.

Martin Rennison MPhil BSc MCSP

Improving Sports Performance inMiddle and Long DistanceRunningA scientific approach to race preparation

Human Kinetics, Champaigne, Illinois1999 (ISBN 0 88011 562 9). 364 pages

by Laurel T Mackinnon £40The preface of this book places the topic of exerciseimmunology in context – based on increased interest inexercise, first as a strategy for disease prevention, secondly asan adjunct therapy for certain diseases, thirdly indiminishing/delaying the effects of ageing and immobility,and finally as a means studying the stress response.

After an opening chapter which explores the relationshipbetween exercise and resistance to infectious disease, theauthor provides an overview of the immune system – achapter which attempts to simplify the complexity of theimmune system, and presents a large amount of informationin a very accessible manner.

Chapter 3 explores the effect of exercise on the numberand distribution of circulating leukocytes, noting that whilemost leukocytes increase dramatically during exercise andremain so for several hours, lymphocyte numbers maydecrease after exercise. The next four chapters discuss theeffects of exercise on different immune systems (innate andhumoral) and on different aspects of immune function

(cytokines and cytoxic cells).The penultimate chapter focuses on potential clinical

applications of exercise immunology with specific referenceto cancer, human immunodeficiency virus, ageing, spaceflight and dietary intervention in athletes.

The final chapter summarises the current state ofknowledge, and identifies future directions for investigation.

The book is extensively referenced, and each chapterconcludes with a summary paragraph, followed by bulletpoints summarising research findings, possible practicalapplications, and a ‘yet to be explored’ section onareas/topics for further research.

While all chapters of the book are obviously linked to thegeneral topic of exercise immunology, each chapter hasbeen presented as an individual review on a specific elementof immunology, and can be read in isolation.

The book includes some excellent summary tables anduseful diagrams, but on the whole the visual impact is notparticularly attractive. However, the extremely complextopic of exercise immunology has been presented in a clearand accessible format. While not recommending this bookas an essential text for physiotherapists, it will make a usefulreference book in departmental libraries, particularly forthose interested in sport and exercise medicine andtherapeutic exercise.

Kate Kerr PhD BA MCSP CertEd PGDipHE

Advances in ExerciseImmunology

Books on Sports Medicine