What's a good book about joints for the layman?
June 22, 2011 3:21 PM Subscribe
What's a good, reasonably priced book that will tell a mechanically-minded layman how the joints of the human body work, and how they fail (especially in arthritis)?
I seem to be developing arthritis or something like it, and accordingly I'm arranging to get myself some medical help. But I'm a curious person with a strong interest in mechanical systems and processes, and I know I'll never be satisfied with what any doctor can teach me about what's happening in my body during the approximately zero hours per day (rounding down) that I can afford to spend talking with one. I'm stuck in this body all day and I have to feel all the little pops and clicks and roughnesses that didn't used to be there--I need to get some relevant information into the head attached to said body; I need a book! Not even necessarily something specific to arthritis. I've got specific questions: Which parts of the joints actually swell, when a joint is swollen? How hard is this cartilage that gets worn away? How much of it is there to begin with? How fast does it wear? Does it really never heal again, as so many friendly online descriptions of the disease so glibly claim? How do joints not wear themselves out normally, anyway--when the weight of your whole healthy body is on, say, one ankle, how do these precious cartilage surfaces not squish into one another and start a-grinding? Which bits of internal musculoskeletal structure might be involved in this hard-to-describe sensation I just experienced; and what about that one? And on and on and on.
I don't expect to get specific answers to all my questions, not from a book or from anywhere else. But I'd like some good, basic background information, accessibly presented but not dumbed down (with the latter being more important). It helps me to learn about these things; and even if it doesn't specifically solve any problem, it's bound to at least be interesting. While researching arthritis on this site, for example, I was linked to this book about the immune system, which hardly discusses the disease at all but really helped me to feel better anyhow. I need to know things! And Amazon's search engine results seem split between books about hokey "Medical Miracle"s and painfully expensive, probably painfully technical medical textbooks (although I'd consider a textbook if it were really the best choice). So I come to MetaFilter. Any pointers?
I seem to be developing arthritis or something like it, and accordingly I'm arranging to get myself some medical help. But I'm a curious person with a strong interest in mechanical systems and processes, and I know I'll never be satisfied with what any doctor can teach me about what's happening in my body during the approximately zero hours per day (rounding down) that I can afford to spend talking with one. I'm stuck in this body all day and I have to feel all the little pops and clicks and roughnesses that didn't used to be there--I need to get some relevant information into the head attached to said body; I need a book! Not even necessarily something specific to arthritis. I've got specific questions: Which parts of the joints actually swell, when a joint is swollen? How hard is this cartilage that gets worn away? How much of it is there to begin with? How fast does it wear? Does it really never heal again, as so many friendly online descriptions of the disease so glibly claim? How do joints not wear themselves out normally, anyway--when the weight of your whole healthy body is on, say, one ankle, how do these precious cartilage surfaces not squish into one another and start a-grinding? Which bits of internal musculoskeletal structure might be involved in this hard-to-describe sensation I just experienced; and what about that one? And on and on and on.
I don't expect to get specific answers to all my questions, not from a book or from anywhere else. But I'd like some good, basic background information, accessibly presented but not dumbed down (with the latter being more important). It helps me to learn about these things; and even if it doesn't specifically solve any problem, it's bound to at least be interesting. While researching arthritis on this site, for example, I was linked to this book about the immune system, which hardly discusses the disease at all but really helped me to feel better anyhow. I need to know things! And Amazon's search engine results seem split between books about hokey "Medical Miracle"s and painfully expensive, probably painfully technical medical textbooks (although I'd consider a textbook if it were really the best choice). So I come to MetaFilter. Any pointers?
You might have a look at David Macauley's "The Way We Work." For kids, true, but jam-packed with information about and mechanically-inclined illustrations of the human body.
posted by MonkeyToes at 4:31 PM on June 22, 2011
posted by MonkeyToes at 4:31 PM on June 22, 2011
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posted by notsnot at 3:24 PM on June 22, 2011