The book Primer of Sports Injuries by John P.
Currran is quite short, only a measly 97 pages, but it is jam packed with
important information. The fact that the book is so short made it easy to
follow. Curran quickly made his statement on each injury and then moved on to
the next so he could cover as many injuries as possible in such a short amount
of time. As it states on the cover “This brief, handy guide is designed for all
who supervise or coach young athletes of sandlot, primary, and secondary school
sport programs.” This hand book is not meant to be the most exciting thing that
you will read. Instead it is just a hand guide to get you started in the
understanding of sports injuries. The main thing that interested me about this
book was the variety of injuries in which were discussed with in it. This hand
book is not a be-all end-all book about every sports injury you could ever come
across. No, instead it is a helpful guide to make you aware and possibly help
you in any small situations you might find yourself faced with as an athlete or
a coach.
The book’s
layout is quite simple and easy to follow. It is broken down into four
chapters. The chapters are as follows: “Legal Responsibility”, “Prevention of
Injuries”, “Treatment of Injuries”, and “Related Problems”. Within each chapter you find subheadings which clarify the injury
or part of the body they will be referring to within the next few paragraphs.
This book uses a few illustrations especially within the “Prevention of
Injuries” and “Treatment of Injuries” chapters to illustrate exactly what he is
saying. This is especially helpful when Curran is describing taping or certain
injuries in which you may be unfamiliar. The vocabulary of this book can be
confusing to all who do not know the specifics of the muscular system.
Sentences can you leave you confused if you are unfamiliar with the vocab or medical
terminology. One thing that helped me while reading Curran’s Primer of Sports Injuries was the fact
that in the back he had a glossary containing more specific explanations and
even more examples of some of the injuries he discussed within each chapter.
While reading
this book I found myself having to cross reference the information with medical
journals online and other resources to make sense of the content or injuries
that I was unfamiliar with but the more common injuries were very easy to
comprehend. If you do not have any background in sports injuries this book may
not be the right book to read even though it is called a primer. When I first
heard the title of this book, Primer of
Sports Injures, I thought that it would be a good starting book to read
because of the word primer. But unfortunately this was not the case for this
particular reading. If someone with no prior knowledge to sport or injury
picked this handbook up I am afraid the content would put them in a state of
utter confusion. The fact that Curran states, “This handbook is written mainly
for those who have had no former training in the management, prevention, or
treatment of athletic injuries” within the preface makes me laugh going back on
it. This is coming from someone who has some background within this field: this
book is not a simple read!
In fact the main point this book tries to
illustrate is “When in doubt, call the physician…” This statement is repeated
on and on throughout the text. I think Curran made a mistake in using this so
often with in his writing. The statement eventually got overused and just
tended to turn me off from reading the book. Why keep reading someone’s point
of view who is just telling you to go to the doctor? It seems as though there is
not much point in reading the book if you should see the doctor to diagnose and
be taught what to do about the injury from them. This to me just invalidates
all of his advice he relays with in the text.
Although this
book was a bit challenging to read it did have quite a few positive things that
kept me reading to the end. One main thing that really drew my attention was
the fact that it focused on each injury by itself. This made the book scan-able
and if you were only interested in very specific injuries you could easily find
that injury and learn a bit about it. This book’s specifics really helped in
understanding the content, whether it was through pictures or information.
Curran was very good at putting the minute details in the text without making
it seem like he was droning on and on. He put in details that some people might
not even consider, such as information about “Proper methods of alternate hot
and cold soaks…” (35). He stated the exact temperatures to create the most
effective treatment when using this method. This is something I would never
think about personally before I started with treatment and it is also something
that is hard to remember exactly, so it is good to have a reference to go back
on to make sure that the treatment is being administered correctly.
If you are
looking for a handbook that will give you a little bit of background on some
more common sports injuries then Currans Primer
of Sports Injuries is the right book for you. But before you pick up this
book I suggest you pull out a reference such as a thesaurus or dictionary so
you can follow along with the vocabulary and of course be sure to check with a
physician in the end anyways just to be sure your diagnosis is correct and you
are treating the injury correctly. Maybe this should not be your go to book but
for sure it can be a helpful source of information in some cases.
Primer of Sports Injuries, 97
pages, John P. Curran, 1968, Free online
