Articles

Spinal manipulation and modulation of pain sensitivity in persistent low back pain: a secondary cluster analysis of a randomized trial

Pain hypersensitivity can be assessed using Quantitative Sensory Testing (QST) and is associated with persistent low back pain. Spinal manipulation appears to modify pain hypersensitivity, and this could funct...

Authors: Casper Glissmann Nim, Kenneth Arnold Weber, Gregory Neill Kawchuk and Søren O’Neill

Leadership and capacity building in chiropractic research: report from the first CARL cohort

The Chiropractic Academy for Research Leadership (CARL) was formed in 2016 in response to a need for a global network of early career researchers and leaders in the chiropractic profession. Thirteen fellows we...

Authors: Jan Hartvigsen, Greg Kawchuk, Alexander Breen, Diana De Carvalho, Andreas Eklund, Matthew Fernandez, Martha Funabashi, Michelle M. Holmes, Melker S. Johansson, Katie de Luca, Craig Moore, Isabelle Pagé, Katherine A. Pohlman, Michael S. Swain, Arnold Y. L. Wong and Jon Adams

The global summit on the efficacy and effectiveness of spinal manipulative therapy for the prevention and treatment of non-musculoskeletal disorders: a systematic review of the literature

A small proportion of chiropractors, osteopaths, and other manual medicine providers use spinal manipulative therapy (SMT) to manage non-musculoskeletal disorders. However, the efficacy and effectiveness of th...

Authors: Pierre Côté, Jan Hartvigsen, Iben Axén, Charlotte Leboeuf-Yde, Melissa Corso, Heather Shearer, Jessica Wong, Andrée-Anne Marchand, J. David Cassidy, Simon French, Gregory N. Kawchuk, Silvano Mior, Erik Poulsen, John Srbely, Carlo Ammendolia, Marc-André Blanchette…

Immediate impact of extremity manipulation on dual task performance: a randomized, crossover clinical trial

Previous research demonstrated that manipulation of the extremities was associated with changes in multisegmental postural sway as well as improvement in a lower extremity balancing task. We were interested if...

Authors: Christopher A. Malaya, Joshua Haworth, Katherine A. Pohlman and Dean L. Smith

Chiropractic students’ cognitive dissonance to statements about professional identity, role, setting and future: international perspectives from a secondary analysis of pooled data

Chiropractic students demonstrate philosophically opposing views about the chiropractic profession. The primary aim was to describe chiropractic students’ responses to statements about chiropractic identity, r...

Authors: Michael S. Swain, Jordan A. Gliedt, Katie de Luca, Dave Newell and Michelle Holmes

COVID-19: how has a global pandemic changed manual therapy technique education in chiropractic programs around the world?

Manual therapy is a cornerstone of chiropractic education, whereby students work towards a level of skill and expertise that is regarded as competent to work within the field of chiropractic. Due to the COVID-...

Authors: Katie de Luca, Marcus McDonald, Laura Montgomery, Stephen Sharp, Anika Young, Simon Vella, Michelle M. Holmes, Sasha Aspinall, Danica Brousseau, Chris Burrell, David Byfield, Dawn Dane, Philip Dewhurst, Aron Downie, Roger Engel, Brian Gleberzon…

Knowledge of and adherence to radiographic guidelines for low back pain: a survey of chiropractors in Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada

Low back pain (LBP) rarely requires routine imaging of the lumbar spine in the primary care setting, as serious spinal pathology is rare. Despite evidence-based clinical practice guidelines recommending delayi...

Authors: Diana De Carvalho, André Bussières, Simon D. French, Darrell Wade, Debbie Brake-Patten, Lino O’Keefe, Barbara Elliott, Ken Budgell, Sara O’Reilly, Daphne To and Amanda Hall

Skills, attitudes and uptake of evidence-based practice: a cross-sectional study of chiropractors in the Swedish Chiropractic Association

Evidence-based practice (EBP) is integral to the delivery of high-quality health care. Chiropractic has been a licensed health profession in Sweden since 1989, but little is known of the uptake of EBP in this ...

Authors: Matthew J. Leach, Per J. Palmgren, Oliver P. Thomson, Gary Fryer, Andreas Eklund, Stina Lilje, Jon Adams, Eva Skillgate and Tobias Sundberg

Effects of spinal manipulative therapy on inflammatory mediators in patients with non-specific low back pain: a non-randomized controlled clinical trial

The inflammatory profiles of patients with acute and chronic nonspecific low back pain (LBP) patients are distinct. Spinal manipulative therapy (SMT) has been shown to modulate the production of nociceptive ch...

Authors: Julita A. Teodorczyk-Injeyan, John J. Triano, Robert Gringmuth, Christopher DeGraauw, Adrian Chow and H. Stephen Injeyan

Effectiveness of chiropractic manipulation versus sham manipulation for recurrent headaches in children aged 7–14 years - a randomised clinical trial

To investigate the effectiveness of chiropractic spinal manipulation versus sham manipulation in children aged 7–14 with recurrent headaches.

Authors: Susanne Lynge, Kristina Boe Dissing, Werner Vach, Henrik Wulff Christensen and Lise Hestbaek

The professional contribution of chiropractors to Danish elite football clubs: a qualitative exploration of role and perceived value in an interprofessional service provision context

Interprofessional team-based care has been widely adopted in elite level athletic health and performance practice. Chiropractors can claim some penetration as health care service providers in high level sport....

Authors: Joachim Hostrup, Anders Koza and Corrie Myburgh

Cost comparison of two approaches to chiropractic care for patients with acute and sub-acute low Back pain care episodes: a cohort study

Low back pain (LBP) imposes a costly burden upon patients, healthcare insurers, and society overall. Spinal manipulation as practiced by chiropractors has been found be cost-effective for treatment of LBP, but...

Authors: James M. Whedon, Serena Bezdjian, Patricia Dennis, Vivi-Ann Fischer and Robb Russell

Differences in force-time parameters and electromyographic characteristics of two high-velocity, low-amplitude spinal manipulations following one another in quick succession

Spinal manipulative therapy is an effective treatment for neck pain. However, the mechanisms underlying its clinical efficacy are not fully understood. Previous studies have not systematically compared force-t...

Authors: Lindsay M. Gorrell, Philip J. Conway and Walter Herzog

Chiropractic conservatism among chiropractic students in Denmark: prevalence and consequences

The chiropractic profession is split between those practicing evidence-based and those whose practice is honed by vitalism. The latter has been coined ‘chiropractic conservatism’. In Denmark, the chiropractic ...

Authors: Casper Glissmann Nim, Henrik Hein Lauridsen, Søren O’Neill, Guillaume Goncalves, Rikke K. Jensen and Charlotte Leboeuf-Yde

Factors influencing Australian chiropractors who choose not to join national professional associations: a qualitative study

Professional associations (PAs) are perceived to promote their professions and support their members. Despite these advantages, about 1 in 3 Australian chiropractors choose not to belong to either of the two P...

Authors: Stanley I. Innes, Vicki Cope and Kenneth J. Young

Investigator analytic repeatability of two new intervertebral motion biomarkers for chronic, nonspecific low back pain in a cohort of healthy controls

Understanding the mechanisms underlying chronic, nonspecific low back pain (CNSLBP) is essential to advance personalized care and identify the most appropriate intervention. Recently, two intervertebral motion...

Authors: Daphne To, Alexander Breen, Alan Breen, Silvano Mior and Samuel J. Howarth

Short-term effect of kinesiology taping on pain, functional disability and lumbar proprioception in individuals with nonspecific chronic low back pain: a double-blinded, randomized trial

This study aimed to evaluate the effect of kinesiology taping (KT) on lumbar proprioception, pain, and functional disability in individuals with nonspecific chronic low back pain (CLBP).

Authors: Soheila Abbasi, Mohammad-Reza Hadian Rasanani, Nastaran Ghotbi, Gholam Reza Olyaei, Ali Bozorgmehr and Omid Rasouli

Correction to: Feasibility study: one year fortnightly follow-up of the evolution of supra-spinatus degeneration via text-messages

An amendment to this paper has been published and can be accessed via the original article.

Authors: Karl Vincent, Olivier Gagey and Charlotte Leboeuf-Yde

Misinformation, chiropractic, and the COVID-19 pandemic

In March 2020, the World Health Organization elevated the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) epidemic to a pandemic and called for urgent and aggressive action worldwide. Public health experts have communicated cl...

Authors: Iben Axén, Cecilia Bergström, Marc Bronson, Pierre Côté, Casper Glissmann Nim, Guillaume Goncalves, Jeffrey J. Hébert, Joakim Axel Hertel, Stanley Innes, Ole Kristoffer Larsen, Anne-Laure Meyer, Søren O’Neill, Stephen M. Perle, Kenneth A. Weber II, Kenneth J. Young and Charlotte Leboeuf-Yde

Approaches to cervical spine mobilization for neck pain: a pilot randomized controlled trial

Pilot randomized controlled trial.

Authors: Claire Lagoutaris, Justin Sullivan, Michelle Hancock and Andrew M. Leaver

An unusual postural headache: a case report

This paper presents a case of an evolving unusual thunderclap headache that presented to a chiropractor.

Authors: Henry Pollard and Rachel Pollard

Assessing forces during spinal manipulation and mobilization: factors influencing the difference between forces at the patient-table and clinician-patient interfaces

Spinal manipulative therapy (SMT) and mobilization (MOB) effects are believed to be related to their force characteristics. Most previous studies have either measured the force at the patient-table interface o...

Authors: Jérémie Mikhail, Martha Funabashi, Martin Descarreaux and Isabelle Pagé

Informed consent, duty of disclosure and chiropractic: where are we?

The COVID-19 pandemic has seen the emergence of unsubstantiated claims by vertebral subluxation-based chiropractors that spinal manipulative therapy has a role to play in prevention by enhancing the body’s imm...

Authors: J. Keith Simpson and Stanley Innes

Feasibility study: one year fortnightly follow-up of the evolution of supra-spinatus degeneration via text-messages

The clinical follow-up of patients for degeneration of the supraspinatus tendon is limited by the lack of objective assessment of pain evolution over time. We therefore tested a new method to collect follow-up...

Authors: Karl Vincent, Olivier Gagey and Charlotte Leboeuf-Yde

Reported 1-year prevalence of occupational musculoskeletal disorders in Ontario chiropractors

Chiropractors are a particular subset of health care professionals that reportedly suffer occupational musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs), yet they have received minimal attention to date regarding mitigating ri...

Authors: Samuel J. Howarth, Anser Abbas, Sheilah Hogg-Johnson and Silvano Mior

Attitudes, beliefs, and practices among Swiss chiropractors regarding medication prescribing for musculoskeletal conditions: a national Q-methodology study

Swiss chiropractors have been licensed since 1995 to prescribe from a limited formulary of medications for treating musculoskeletal (MSK) conditions. In January 2018, this formulary was expanded to include add...

Authors: Peter C. Emary, Mark Oremus, Taco A. W. Houweling, Martin Wangler and Noori Akhtar-Danesh

Determining Trendelenburg test validity and reliability using 3-dimensional motion analysis and muscle dynamometry

The hip abductor muscle group stabilises the pelvis during gait to prevent excessive pelvic drop. Hip abductor weakness has been linked to musculoskeletal conditions such as chronic low-back pain. As such, it ...

Authors: Luke McCarney, Alexander Andrews, Phoebe Henry, Azharuddin Fazalbhoy, Isaac Selva Raj, Noel Lythgo and Julie C Kendall

Controlled manual loading of body tissues: towards the next generation of pressure algometer

Assessing the responses of body tissue subjected to mechanical load is a fundamental component of the clinical examination, psychophysical assessments and bioengineering research. The forces applied during suc...

Authors: Davidk W. Evans and Alessandro Marco De Nunzio

Service utilisation trends in the manual therapy professions within the Australian private healthcare setting between 2008 and 2017

Better understanding of the dynamics and temporal changes in manual therapy service utilisation may assist with healthcare planning and resource allocation. The objectives of this study were to quantify, descr...

Authors: Reidar P. Lystad, Benjamin T. Brown, Michael S. Swain and Roger M. Engel

Patient safety in chiropractic teaching programs: a mixed methods study

Patient safety research has lagged within academic settings, including chiropractic teaching institutions. To develop a robust patient safety culture, the Institute of Medicine emphasized the need for employee...

Authors: Katherine A. Pohlman, Stacie A. Salsbury, Martha Funabashi, Michelle M. Holmes and Silvano Mior

Taping for conditions of the musculoskeletal system: an evidence map review

Taping is a common treatment modality used by many rehabilitation providers. Several types of tapes and taping methods are used in the treatment of musculoskeletal dysfunction and pain.

Authors: Zachary A. Cupler, Muhammad Alrwaily, Emily Polakowski, Kevin S. Mathers and Michael J. Schneider

Beliefs, perceptions and practices of chiropractors and patients about mitigation strategies for benign adverse events after spinal manipulation therapy

Approximately 50% of patients who receive spinal manipulative therapy (SMT) experience some kind of adverse event (AE), typically benign and transient in nature. Regardless of their severity, mitigating benign...

Authors: Martha Funabashi, Katherine A. Pohlman, Rachel Goldsworthy, Alex Lee, Anthony Tibbles, Silvano Mior and Greg Kawchuk

The prevalence of psychosocial related terminology in chiropractic program courses, chiropractic accreditation standards, and chiropractic examining board testing content in the United States

Spine related disorders entail biological (somatic), psychological, and social factors. Though biological factors are often emphasized, psychosocial considerations may not be receiving proper attention in the ...

Authors: Jordan A. Gliedt, Patrick J. Battaglia and Benjamin D. Holmes

The bench-top accuracy of the VerteTrack spinal stiffness assessment device

The assessment of spinal stiffness by manual palpation in clinical settings has demonstrated both poor accuracy and reliability. More recently, mechanical methods for assessment of spinal stiffness have demons...

Authors: Anika Young, Michael S. Swain, Gregory N. Kawchuk, Arnold Y. L. Wong and Aron S. Downie

Predictors of low back disability in chiropractic and physical therapy settings

Predicting ongoing disability for chronic non-specific low back pain (LBP) is important to avoid prolonged disability.

Authors: M. John Petrozzi, Sidney M. Rubinstein, Paulo H. Ferreira, Andrew Leaver and Martin G. Mackey

Immediate effects of cervicothoracic junction mobilization versus thoracic manipulation on the range of motion and pain in mechanical neck pain with cervicothoracic junction dysfunction: a pilot randomized controlled trial

Cervicothoracic (CT) junction hypomobility has been proposed as a contributing factor for neck pain. However, there are limited studies that compared the effect of CT junction mobilization against an effective...

Authors: Shriya Joshi, Ganesh Balthillaya and Y. V. Raghava Neelapala

Musculoskeletal pain distribution in 1,000 Danish schoolchildren aged 8–16 years

Knowledge about the occurrence and distribution of musculoskeletal problems in early life is needed. The objectives were to group children aged 8 to 16 according to their distribution of pain in the spine, low...

Authors: Signe Fuglkjær, Werner Vach, Jan Hartvigsen, Kristina Boe Dissing, Tina Junge and Lise Hestbæk

The accreditation role of Councils on Chiropractic Education as part of the profession's journey from craft to allied health profession: a commentary

Chiropractors see themselves as well positioned to provide safe, effective and economical care for the on-going financial burden that spinal pain imposes. However, in many places of the world, the chiropractic...

Authors: Stanley I. Innes, Charlotte Leboeuf-Yde and Bruce F. Walker

More published full-time researchers, early career researchers, clinician-researchers and graduate students unite to call for actions against the pseudoscientific claim that chiropractic care boosts immunity

Authors: Pierre Côté, André Bussières, J. David Cassidy, Jan Hartvigsen, Greg N. Kawchuk, Charlotte Leboeuf-Yde, Silvano Mior and Michael Schneider

Exploring supervised machine learning approaches to predicting Veterans Health Administration chiropractic service utilization

Chronic spinal pain conditions affect millions of US adults and carry a high healthcare cost burden, both direct and indirect. Conservative interventions for spinal pain conditions, including chiropractic care...

Authors: Brian C. Coleman, Samah Fodeh, Anthony J. Lisi, Joseph L. Goulet, Kelsey L. Corcoran, Harini Bathulapalli and Cynthia A. Brandt

Australian chiropractors’ perception of the clinical relevance of anatomical sciences and adequacy of teaching in chiropractic curricula

Human anatomy education is compulsory in the undergraduate curriculum in all Australian chiropractic education programs. There is very little data on clinicians’ perceptions of the adequacy of their anatomy tr...

Authors: Rosemary Giuriato, Goran Štrkalj, Tania Prvan and Nalini Pather

The clinical utility of routine spinal radiographs by chiropractors: a rapid review of the literature

When indicated by signs or symptoms of potentially serious underlying pathology (red flags), chiropractors can use radiographs to inform their diagnosis. In the absence of red flags, the clinical utility of ro...

Authors: Melissa Corso, Carol Cancelliere, Silvano Mior, Varsha Kumar, Ali Smith and Pierre Côté

Guidance concerning chiropractic practice in response to COVID-19 in the U.S.: a summary of state regulators’ web-based information

The COVID-19 pandemic led to unprecedented changes, as many state and local governments enacted stay-at-home orders and non-essential businesses were closed. State chiropractic licensing boards play an importa...

Authors: Shawn M. Neff, Christopher B. Roecker, Casey S. Okamoto, Samuel L. Holguin, Jason G. Napuli, Ross Mattox, Nathan A. Hinkeldey and David J. Paris

Predictors of instantaneous relief from spinal manipulation for non-specific low back pain: a delphi study

There is some evidence and anecdotal reports that high-velocity low-amplitude (HVLA) spinal manipulation therapy (SMT) for non-specific low back pain (NSLBP) may immediately reduce pain in some patients. The m...

Authors: Stanley Innes, Amber Beynon, Christopher Hodgetts, Rachel Manassah, Denyse Lim and Bruce F. Walker

Management of patients with prior lumbar fusion: a cross-sectional survey of Veterans Affairs chiropractors’ attitudes, beliefs, and practices

Little is known about the preferred treatment strategies of chiropractors in managing low back pain patients with prior lumbar fusions. There are several case reports which describe chiropractic care following...

Authors: Clinton J. Daniels, Jordan A. Gliedt, Pradeep Suri, Edward M. Bednarz and Anthony J. Lisi

PROMIS® General Life Satisfaction scale: construct validity in musculoskeletal pain patients

Life satisfaction is part of subjective well-being. Measurement of life satisfaction is undertaken using self-report measures. This study aimed to evaluate the structural validity, concurrent validity, and int...

Authors: Brett Vaughan, Jane Mulcahy and Kylie Fitzgerald

Pressure pain threshold and temporal summation in adults with episodic and persistent low back pain trajectories: a secondary analysis at baseline and after lumbar manipulation or sham

People with chronic low back pain (LBP) typically have increased pain sensitivity compared to healthy controls, however its unknown if pain sensitivity differs based on LBP trajectory at baseline or after manu...

Authors: Sasha L. Aspinall, Angela Jacques, Charlotte Leboeuf-Yde, Sarah J. Etherington and Bruce F. Walker

Vitalism in contemporary chiropractic: a help or a hinderance?

Chiropractic emerged in 1895 and was promoted as a viable health care substitute in direct competition with the medical profession. This was an era when there was a belief that one cause and one cure for all d...

Authors: J. Keith Simpson and Kenneth J. Young

The effectiveness and safety of conservative interventions for positional plagiocephaly and congenital muscular torticollis: a synthesis of systematic reviews and guidance

To investigate for congenital muscular torticollis (CMT) and positional plagiocephaly (PP) the effectiveness and safety of manual therapy, repositioning and helmet therapy (PP only) using a systematic review o...

Authors: Julie Ellwood, Jerry Draper-Rodi and Dawn Carnes

Misinformation about spinal manipulation and boosting immunity: an analysis of Twitter activity during the COVID-19 crisis

Social media has become an increasingly important tool in monitoring the onset and spread of infectious diseases globally as well monitoring the spread of information about those diseases. This includes the sp...

Authors: Greg Kawchuk, Jan Hartvigsen, Steen Harsted, Casper Glissmann Nim and Luana Nyirö