I enjoyed reading the book “Surviving a Season.” It was well written, an easy read, and very pertinent and educational to any athlete in any sport. The simplified line items and illustrations will help anyone understand the basic anatomy and injuries that occur to these tissues. There is a lot of useful information regarding injury prevention as well as general health and wellness.
Joseph P. Iannotti, M.D. Ph.D. Cleveland Clinic Maynard Madden Professor and Chairman Orthopaedic and Rheumatologic Institute
Dr. DeFranco brings his experience as a team doctor working with young athletes, parents, and coaches into this new book about understanding and preventing athletic injuries. "Surviving a Season" is well thought out and easy to understand even without an extensive medical background and, as a result, is a quick, but decisive read. All in all, this book highlights the key components of athletic injuries and gives readers a better understanding of why injuries occur and how coaches, parents, and athletes themselves can better prevent such injuries.
National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics
“Recently, media attention has focused on concussions as a number of professional athletes have sustained them and lost playing time as a result,” notes author Michael J. DeFranco, MD in his chapter on the vocabulary of injuries. “The more serious issue is how concussions affect your life off the field.” That discussion alone makes this short, basic guidebook to preventing and managing sports injuries in children a timely, important read for anyone interested in musculoskeletal health in young persons.
Dr DeFranco notes that the consequences of sports injuries that occur at a young age go well beyond losing school and playing time to the potential for the injury evolving into a lifelong problem, limiting the person’s capacity to perform work-related activities and to stay physically fit. His goal is to present the important issues surrounding sports injuries in young athletes and to provide a commonsense approach to avoiding them.
Although young athletes, parents, and coaches are the target audience, primary care physicians and pediatricians can benefit from reviewing the book’s principles and using them for patient education. Most physicians would find the book very basic, Dr DeFranco suggests, but that is the point—to present the key aspects of injury recognition and prevention in simple language that is understandable for persons who do not have a medical background.
Chapters include an overview of the sports injuries problem, the basics of bones and muscles, the importance of taking active steps toward maintaining bone strength, physical fitness CORE principles (Cardiovascular, Orthopedic, Rest, and Energize), the use of protective equipment, and injury treatment. One chapter is devoted to the all-important point that children are not small adult athletes—they have differences in body structure and development that need to be considered in injury prevention efforts.
Numerous line drawings, tables, and lists of additional resources add to the wealth of practical, useful information that is easy to read and understand. It all adds up to a great patient education vehicle for physicians to provide for their young patients and those who care most about their physical well-being.
- Journal of Musculoskeletal Medicine
The subtitle of Surviving a Season states that the book contains essential advice for young athletes, coaches, and parents. Essential is a strong word, one not to be casually tossed around, and it is entirely appropriate here. In 90 pages of plain English, diagrams and charts, Dr. DeFranco gives you the basics of bones and muscles and the vocabulary of injuries. Sound formidable? Not at all. Everything is described so matter-of-factly and reinforced with such simple drawings that the reader is immediately drawn into the "conversation" with the author. All doctors should be so accessible!
And, as we all know but seldom bother to explore until it's our kid with the torn meniscus, the problem of sports injuries has become more and more common, especially among children. There is not much you can do about acute injuries--these, Dr. DeFranco notes, are the reality of sports--but there are "steps every athlete, parent and coach can take to avoid many of the overuse injuries."
This is, indeed, an "essential" book if athletics and especially young athletes are part of your life.
-M.K. Turner, BookReview.com
This book is an important document and should be given to each student athlete. It should be as common as a team uniform. Parents and coaches need to pay attention to the methods of avoiding accidents and injuries, because although perhaps not lethal, the ramification of any accident due to ignorance during a youth’s development is unconscionable. This is an easy-to-read, fun book that will appeal to people of all ages and all levels of physical activity.
-Gary Sorkin, Pacific Book Review
Sports injuries can prove to be quite severe. "Surviving a Season: Essential Advice for Young Athletes, Coaches, and Parents on Staying Healthy and Avoiding Sports Injuries" is a useful reference from a doctor who has much experience with sports injuries and grants a good deal of tips on what preventative measures can be taken to reduce the frequency and severity of these injuries, no matter what sports they are received. "Surviving a Season" is a top pick for anyone who is active and at risk for these plethora of injuries.
-Midwest Book Review
"Surviving a Season" is a short, quick read. Coaches, trainers,athletes, and parents get a nice overview of the different types of sports injuries and what to do to lessen them. As a parent of active sports playing children, I believe educating adults on sports safety for children is imperative. This book should be required reading for coaches.
-Marissa Libbet, Reader Views
Dr. DeFranco is a recognized sports medicine specialist with U.S. and European training in orthopaedic surgery and musculoskeletal health. With sports injuries soaring among young athletes, he provides vital advice about the best ways to protect bones, enjoy athletic activity, and sustain bone health. The book provides must have knowledge to help protect athletes from career-ending injuries and lifelong disability. Dr. DeFranco’s advice clearly illuminates the sports injury problem. He instructs with understandable explanations, illustrations, training strategies, exercise schedules, and diet recommendations.
