Articles

Withdrawal rates as a consequence of disclosure of risk associated with manipulation of the cervical spine

The risk associated with cervical manipulation is controversial. Research in this area is widely variable but as yet the risk is not easily quantifiable. This presents a problem when informing the patient of r...

Authors: Jennifer M Langworthy and Lianne Forrest

Interleukin 2-regulated in vitro antibody production following a single spinal manipulative treatment in normal subjects

Our recent investigations have demonstrated that cell cultures from subjects, who received a single spinal manipulative treatment in the upper thoracic spine, show increased capacity for the production of the ...

Authors: Julita A Teodorczyk-Injeyan, Marion McGregor, Richard Ruegg and H Stephen Injeyan

The Nordic maintenance care program: what are the indications for maintenance care in patients with low back pain? A survey of the members of the Danish Chiropractors' Association

Maintenance care (MC) is relatively commonly used among chiropractors. However, factual information is needed on its indications for use.

Authors: Signe F Hansen, Anne L S Laursen, Tue S Jensen, Charlotte Leboeuf-Yde and Lise Hestbæk

The attrition rate of licensed chiropractors in California: an exploratory ecological investigation of time-trend data

The authors hypothesized the attrition rate of licensed chiropractors in California has gradually increased over the past several decades. "Attrition" as determined for this study is defined as a loss of legal...

Authors: Stephen M Foreman and Michael J Stahl

A descriptive study of a manual therapy intervention within a randomised controlled trial for hamstring and lower limb injury prevention

There is little literature describing the use of manual therapy performed on athletes. It was our purpose to document the usage of a sports chiropractic manual therapy intervention within a RCT by identifying ...

Authors: Wayne Hoskins and Henry Pollard

Current understanding of the relationship between cervical manipulation and stroke: what does it mean for the chiropractic profession?

The understanding of the relationship between cervical manipulative therapy (CMT) and vertebral artery dissection and stroke (VADS) has evolved considerably over the years. In the beginning the relationship wa...

Authors: Donald R Murphy

Preliminary study into the components of the fear-avoidance model of LBP: change after an initial chiropractic visit and influence on outcome

In the last decade the sub grouping of low back pain (LBP) patients according to their likely response to treatment has been identified as a research priority. As with other patient groups, researchers have fo...

Authors: Jonathan R Field, Dave Newell and Peter W McCarthy

Relative effectiveness and adverse effects of cervical manipulation, mobilisation and the activator instrument in patients with sub-acute non-specific neck pain: results from a stopped randomised trial

Neck pain of a mechanical nature is a common complaint seen by practitioners of manual medicine, who use a multitude of methods to treat the condition. It is not known, however, if any of these methods are sup...

Authors: Hugh Gemmell and Peter Miller

Routine versus needs-based MRI in patients with prolonged low back pain: a comparison of duration of treatment, number of clinical contacts and referrals to surgery

The routine use of radiology is normally discouraged in patients with low back pain (LBP). Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) provides clinicians and patients with detailed knowledge of spinal structures and has...

Authors: Rikke K Jensen, Manniche Claus and Charlotte Leboeuf-Yde

Incidence, severity, aetiology and type of neck injury in men's amateur rugby union: a prospective cohort study

There is a paucity of epidemiological data on neck injury in amateur rugby union populations. The objective of this study was to determine the incidence, severity, aetiology and type of neck injury in Australi...

Authors: Michael S Swain, Henry P Pollard and Rod Bonello

Chiropractic care for children: too much, too little or not enough?

This editorial provides an overview of this Thematic Series of the journal titled Chiropractic Care for Children. In commissioning this series of articles we aimed to bring the busy clinician up to date with t...

Authors: Simon D French, Bruce F Walker and Stephen M Perle

Chiropractic approach to the management of children

Chiropractic (Greek: done by hand) is a health care profession concerned with the diagnosis, treatment and prevention of disorders of the neuromusculoskeletal system and the effects of these disorders on gener...

Authors: Sharon A Vallone, Joyce Miller, Annica Larsdotter and Jennifer Barham-Floreani

The evidence base for chiropractic treatment of musculoskeletal conditions in children and adolescents: The emperor's new suit?

Five to ten percent of chiropractic patients are children and adolescents. Most of these consult because of spinal pain, or other musculoskeletal complaints. These musculoskeletal disorders in early life not o...

Authors: Lise Hestbaek and Mette Jensen Stochkendahl

Chiropractic diagnosis and management of non-musculoskeletal conditions in children and adolescents

A great deal has been published in the chiropractic literature regarding the response, or lack thereof, of various common pediatric conditions to chiropractic care. The majority of that literature is of low sc...

Authors: Randy J Ferrance and Joyce Miller

Chiropractic care for paediatric and adolescent Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder: A systematic review

Psychostimulants are first line of therapy for paediatric and adolescent AD/HD. The evidence suggests that up to 30% of those prescribed stimulant medications do not show clinically significant outcomes. In ad...

Authors: Fay Karpouzis, Rod Bonello and Henry Pollard

Possible adverse events in children treated by manual therapy: a review

Pediatric manual therapy is controversial within the medical community particularly with respect to adverse events. Pediatric manual therapy (Ped MT) is commonly used by a number of professions such as chiropr...

Authors: B Kim Humphreys

Chiropractic and children: Is more research enough?

Many health science research and review articles end with the words: "More research is needed". However, when it comes to research, it is not as much a question of quantity as of quality. There are a number of...

Authors: Charlotte Leboeuf-Yde and Lise Hestbæk

Comparison between data obtained through real-time data capture by SMS and a retrospective telephone interview

The aims of the current study were: a) to quantitatively compare data obtained by Short Message Service (SMS) with data from a telephone interview, b) to investigate whether the respondents had found it accept...

Authors: Bendt Johansen and Niels Wedderkopp

Illustrating risk difference and number needed to treat from a randomized controlled trial of spinal manipulation for cervicogenic headache

The number needed to treat (NNT) for one participant to benefit is considered a useful, clinically meaningful way of reporting binary outcomes from randomized trials. Analysis of continuous data from our rando...

Authors: Mitchell Haas, Michael Schneider and Darcy Vavrek

The Nordic back pain subpopulation program: Can low back pain patterns be predicted from the first consultation with a chiropractor? A longitudinal pilot study

It is widely believed that non-specific low back pain (LBP) consists of a number of subgroups which should be identified in order to improve treatment effects. In order to identify subgroups, patient character...

Authors: Alice Kongsted and Charlotte Leboeuf-Yde

Chiropractic management of patients post-disc arthroplasty: eight case reports

When conservative therapies for low back pain (LBP) are not effective, elective surgery may be proposed to these patients. Over the last 20 years, a new technology, disc replacement, has become increasingly po...

Authors: Julie O'Shaughnessy, Marc Drolet, Jean-François Roy and Martin Descarreaux

Neck pain and anxiety do not always go together

Chronic pain and psychosocial distress are generally thought to be associated in chronic musculoskeletal disorders such as non-specific neck pain. However, it is unclear whether a raised level of anxiety is ne...

Authors: Corrie Myburgh, Kirsten K Roessler, Anders H Larsen and Jan Hartvigsen

The Nordic Maintenance Care Program - Time intervals between treatments of patients with low back pain: how close and who decides?

The management of chiropractic patients with acute and chronic/persistent conditions probably differs. However, little is known on this subject. There is, for example, a dearth of information on maintenance ca...

Authors: Kjerstin F Sandnes, Charlotte Bjørnstad, Charlotte Leboeuf-Yde and Lise Hestbaek

Commentary on the United Kingdom evidence report about the effectiveness of manual therapies

This is an accompanying commentary on the article by Gert Bronfort and colleagues about the effectiveness of manual therapy. The two commentaries were provided independently and combined into this single artic...

Authors: Scott Haldeman and Martin Underwood

Effectiveness of manual therapies: the UK evidence report

The purpose of this report is to provide a succinct but comprehensive summary of the scientific evidence regarding the effectiveness of manual treatment for the management of a variety of musculoskeletal and n...

Authors: Gert Bronfort, Mitch Haas, Roni Evans, Brent Leininger and Jay Triano

The Nordic back pain subpopulation program: course patterns established through weekly follow-ups in patients treated for low back pain

Low back pain (LBP) is known to have a fluctuating course. In clinical studies, when deciding on duration of treatment and time for follow-up, it is important to know at what point in time a definite pattern o...

Authors: Alice Kongsted and Charlotte Leboeuf-Yde

The relationship between hip abductor muscle strength and iliotibial band tightness in individuals with low back pain

Shortening of the iliotibial band (ITB) has been considered to be associated with low back pain (LBP). It is theorized that ITB tightness in individuals with LBP is a compensatory mechanism following hip abduc...

Authors: Amir M Arab and Mohammad R Nourbakhsh

The Nordic Subpopulation Research Programme: prediction of treatment outcome in patients with low back pain treated by chiropractors - does the psychological profile matter?

It is clinically important to be able to select patients suitable for treatment and to be able to predict with some certainty the outcome for patients treated for low back pain (LBP). It is not known to what d...

Authors: Charlotte Leboeuf-Yde, Annika Rosenbaum, Iben Axén, Peter W Lövgren, Kristian Jørgensen, Laszlo Halasz, Andreas Eklund and Niels Wedderkopp

An epidemiological examination of the subluxation construct using Hill's criteria of causation

Chiropractors claim to locate, analyze and diagnose a putative spinal lesion known as subluxation and apply the mode of spinal manipulation (adjustment) for the correction of this lesion.

Authors: Timothy A Mirtz, Lon Morgan, Lawrence H Wyatt and Leon Greene

A descriptive report of management strategies used by chiropractors, as reviewed by a single independent chiropractic consultant in the Australian workers compensation system

In New South Wales, Australia, an injured worker enters the workers compensation system with the case often managed by a pre-determined insurer. The goal of the treating practitioner is to facilitate the claim...

Authors: Henry Pollard and Katie de Luca

The Nordic back pain subpopulation program - individual patterns of low back pain established by means of text messaging: a longitudinal pilot study

Non-specific low back pain (LBP) is known to be a fluctuating condition and there is a growing realisation that it consists of different subgroups of patients. The detailed course of pain is not known since tr...

Authors: Alice Kongsted and Charlotte Leboeuf-Yde

Why do ineffective treatments seem helpful? A brief review

After any therapy, when symptoms improve, healthcare providers (and patients) are tempted to award credit to treatment. Over time, a particular treatment can seem so undeniably helpful that scientific verifica...

Authors: Steve E Hartman

Pain patterns and descriptions in patients with radicular pain: Does the pain necessarily follow a specific dermatome?

It is commonly stated that nerve root pain should be expected to follow a specific dermatome and that this information is useful to make the diagnosis of radiculopathy. There is little evidence in the literatu...

Authors: Donald R Murphy, Eric L Hurwitz, Jonathan K Gerrard and Ronald Clary

Cervical spondylosis with spinal cord encroachment: should preventive surgery be recommended?

It has been stated that individuals who have spondylotic encroachment on the cervical spinal cord without myelopathy are at increased risk of spinal cord injury if they experience minor trauma. Preventive deco...

Authors: Donald R Murphy, Christopher M Coulis and Jonathan K Gerrard

The Nordic maintenance care program: case management of chiropractic patients with low back pain – defining the patients suitable for various management strategies

Maintenance care is a well known concept among chiropractors, although there is little knowledge about its exact definition, its indications and usefulness. As an initial step in a research program on this phe...

Authors: Stefan Malmqvist and Charlotte Leboeuf-Yde

Cervicocephalic kinesthetic sensibility and postural balance in patients with nontraumatic chronic neck pain – a pilot study

Although cervical pain is widespread, most victims are only mildly and occasionally affected. A minority, however, suffer chronic pain and/or functional impairments. Although there is abundant literature regar...

Authors: Per J Palmgren, Daniel Andreasson, Magnus Eriksson and Andreas Hägglund

The Nordic Maintenance Care Program – An interview study on the use of maintenance care in a selected group of Danish chiropractors

Although maintenance care appears to be relatively commonly used among chiropractors, the indications for its use are incompletely understood. A questionnaire survey was recently carried out among Swedish chir...

Authors: Lars Top Møller, Michael Hansen and Charlotte Leboeuf-Yde

A demographic and epidemiological study of a Mexican chiropractic college public clinic

Descriptive studies of chiropractic patients are not new, several have been performed in the U.S., Australia, Canada, and Europe. None have been performed in a Latin American country. The purpose of this study...

Authors: Daniel A Martinez, Ronald L Rupert and Harrison T Ndetan

How to select a chiropractor for the management of athletic conditions

Chiropractors are an integral part of the management of musculoskeletal injuries. A considerable communication gap between the chiropractic and medical professions exists. Subsequently referring allopathic pra...

Authors: Wayne Hoskins, Henry Pollard and Peter Garbutt

The clinical aspects of the acute facet syndrome: results from a structured discussion among European chiropractors

The term 'acute facet syndrome' is widely used and accepted amongst chiropractors, but poorly described in the literature, as most of the present literature relates to chronic facet joint pain. Therefore, rese...

Authors: Lise Hestbaek, Alice Kongsted, Tue Secher Jensen and Charlotte Leboeuf-Yde

The Nordic Maintenance Care Program: when do chiropractors recommend secondary and tertiary preventive care for low back pain?

Among chiropractors the use of long-term treatment is common, often referred to as "maintenance care". Although no generally accepted definition exists, the term has a self-explanatory meaning to chiropractic ...

Authors: Iben Axén, Irene B Jensen, Andreas Eklund, Laszlo Halasz, Kristian Jørgensen, Fredrik Lange, Peter W Lövgren, Annika Rosenbaum and Charlotte Leboeuf-Yde

Common errors and clinical guidelines for manual muscle testing: "the arm test" and other inaccurate procedures

The manual muscle test (MMT) has been offered as a chiropractic assessment tool that may help diagnose neuromusculoskeletal dysfunction. We contend that due to the number of manipulative practitioners using th...

Authors: Walter H Schmitt Jr and Scott C Cuthbert

Rehabilitation program for traumatic chronic cervical pain associated with unsteadiness: a single case study

Neck problems are often recurring or chronic. After pain, unsteadiness and balance problems are among the most frequent symptoms reported by chronic neck pain (CNP) patients. Altered sensorimotor control of th...

Authors: Danik Lafond, Annick Champagne, Rosalie Cadieux and Martin Descarreaux

Through the rear view mirror: a content evaluation of the journal of Chiropractic & Osteopathy for the years 2005–2008

Authors: Ian D Coulter and Raheleh Khorsan

The Nordic back pain subpopulation program: predicting outcome among chiropractic patients in Finland

In a previous Swedish study it was shown that it is possible to predict which chiropractic patients with persistent LBP will not report definite improvement early in the course of treatment, namely those with LBP...

Authors: Stefan Malmqvist, Charlotte Leboeuf-Yde, Tuomo Ahola, Olli Andersson, Kristian Ekström, Harri Pekkarinen, Markku Turpeinen and Niels Wedderkopp

Spinal manipulative therapy versus Graston Technique in the treatment of non-specific thoracic spine pain: Design of a randomised controlled trial

The one year prevalence of thoracic back pain has been estimated as 17% compared to 64% for neck pain and 67% for low back pain. At present only one randomised controlled trial has been performed assessing the...

Authors: Amy Crothers, Bruce Walker and Simon D French

Chiropractic manipulation in pediatric health conditions – an updated systematic review

Our purpose was to review the biomedical literature from January 2004 to June 2007 inclusive to determine the extent of new evidence related to the therapeutic application of manipulation for pediatric health ...

Authors: Allan Gotlib and Ron Rupert

How can chiropractic become a respected mainstream profession? The example of podiatry

The chiropractic profession has succeeded to remain in existence for over 110 years despite the fact that many other professions which had their start at around the same time as chiropractic have disappeared. ...

Authors: Donald R Murphy, Michael J Schneider, David R Seaman, Stephen M Perle and Craig F Nelson

Chiropractors in Finland – a demographic survey

The Finnish chiropractic profession is young and not fully accepted by Finnish healthcare authorities. The demographic profile and style of practice has not been described to date. However, as the profession s...

Authors: Stefan Malmqvist and Charlotte Leboeuf-Yde

Lung cancer metastasis to the scapula and spine: a case report

The objective of this case report is to describe the clinical presentation of a patient who complained of shoulder pain and was diagnosed with carcinoma of the scapula and spine that metastasized from the lung.

Authors: James Demetrious and Gregory J Demetrious