By: Vincent Martin, MD, Guest Reviewer book review
Knock Out Headaches
The book Knock Out Headaches, written by Gary Ruoff, MD, is a“ must read” for individuals who suffer from migraine.
Dr. Ruoff is a primary care physician who has spent more than 30 years caring for patients with migraine. He takes a primary care approach to headaches in this book, discussing not only their management, but also modification of lifestyle habits, the importance of correct posture and treatment of other disorders that often co-occur in headache patients. Such a“ holistic” approach to the management of headache makes this book unique among educational books about headache disorders.
The book is particularly well written and easily understandable to the lay reader. It is divided into interesting chapters with titles to which the reader can relate. For example, one of the chapters is entitled,“ Not all headaches are created equal” and another is entitled,“ The patient-doctor partnership.” Throughout the book Dr. Ruoff empowers the patient with information that will enable them to get their headaches under control. He stresses the importance of the doctor-patient relationship and the need for the patient to take an active role in the management of their headaches.
The book also contains“ real life” stories of patients who have encountered headaches and how they have tried to manage them. These stories will connect with patients and make the book more interesting and readable. The tables and figures are excellent and serve to illustrate important concepts raised in the text of the book. Overall, I was quite impressed with this book and would recommend it
for any patient who is having problems controlling their headaches. Dr. Ruoff has truly hit a home run with this book or in his words“ knocked out headaches.”
VINCENT T. MARTIN, MD, is professor of medicine at the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine and vice president of the National Headache Foundation.
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www. headaches. org | National Headache Foundation 9