Reddit reviews Joint Structure and Function: A Comprehensive Analysis

If your program starts off with a crash course of anatomy, as many do, some of the structures that will take a lot more time are the brachial plexus and the nerve, blood supply, origin, and insertion of the muscles of the hands and feet. You can pick up an anatomy book (Marieb and Hoehn is very commonly used) and find those.

Other structures that are good to know include the shoulder girdle, the elbow, the knee, and the hip. When dealing with these structures, it's good to consider moment arm physics (important for use), sensory innervation (important for testing for nerve damage), and accessory structures (such as the glenoid labrum, which might get damaged).

More detail is better, since you have about a year to cover it. Anatomy is truly one of the best investments you could make because its the foundation for everything else. I'm in my first year and I can say that it is not possible to thrive in this program without a very solid understanding of anatomy.

If you really wanna go the extra mile, Levangie goes into really excellent detail on joints. Don't read this one cover to cover, but use it as a reference. It's the book I go to when I need to double check things. This book is much more related to functional anatomy than structural anatomy, and as such will include pathologies of specific structures.

Dr. Lorimer Moseley can help get you into pain science. It's part of our curriculum, not sure if it's part of yours, but there are some things in his work that make a LOT of sense. Namely, that we were taught for the longest time that nociception= tissue damage. Yet, pain is very poorly correlated with tissue damage. He explains it very well. I had the privilege of sitting in on one of his presentations and learned a lot, but the ted talk I linked is a good foot in the door.

I'd also get used to reading research papers, appraising their value, and extracting the information in a reasonable amount of time.