Posts

Learn the basics about Evidence Based Practice for chiropractors and some quick strategies to search the scientific literature regarding chiropractic.  Watch in HD for the best viewing experience.

Dr. Dean Smith will be hosting a podcast interview with Dr. Steven Passmore this Thursday, September 24th at 2 pm (EST).

Passmore Headshot 2012Steven Passmore, DC, PhD.  Dr. Passmore is Assistant Professor in the Faculty of Kinesiology & Recreation Management at the University of Manitoba. His expertise deals with human perceptual learning and motor control.  Dr. Passmore utilizes his theoretical and applied background in perceptual motor behaviour to explore performance-based outcome measures in an attempt to objectively determine population characteristics, movement outcomes and sustainability of interventions.  We will discuss Dr. Passmore’s chiropractic and performance related research. To hear the podcast live, go to chirocredit.com/chiropracticscience and login for instructions (Not a member? Create an account for free).

Episode

Dr. Samuel Howarth

Dr. Samuel Howarth is an Associate Professor, Director of Human Performance Research and the McMorland Family Research Chair in Mechanobiology at the Canadian Memorial Chiropractic College. He also holds adjunct positions at Ontario Tech University, University of Toronto, University of Guelph and Memorial University of Newfoundland. Dr. Howarth obtained his PhD in kinesiology from the University of Waterloo in 2011, focusing on biomechanics and more specifically related to the spine. His current research is directed toward biomechanical analysis of human movement focusing on functional tasks used in daily life and clinical practice. A fundamental component of this work, and scientific inquiry in general, is measurement and data handling. Once a topic primarily relevant to researchers, the proliferation of low-cost sensors capable of providing clinicians with a seemingly unimaginable amount data extends the conversation on the acquisition and interpretation of measurements to the clinical environment.

Please see Dr. Samuel Howarth’s research profile at researchgate.net and check out his google scholar page also.  Further information and links to his research can be found at the Canadian Memorial Chiropractic College website.

Below are the articles Dr. Samuel Howarth and I discuss in this episode:

1.
Investigator analytic repeatability of two new intervertebral motion biomarkers for chronic, nonspecific low back pain in a cohort of healthy controls.
To D, Breen A, Breen A, Mior S, Howarth SJ.
Chiropr Man Therap. 2020 Nov 24;28(1):62. doi: 10.1186/s12998-020-00350-5.
PMID: 33228737 Free PMC article.
2.
Does manual therapy affect functional and biomechanical outcomes of a sit-to-stand task in a population with low back pain? A preliminary analysis.
Carpino G, Tran S, Currie S, Enebo B, Davidson BS, Howarth SJ.
Chiropr Man Therap. 2020 Jan 24;28(1):5. doi: 10.1186/s12998-019-0290-7. eCollection 2020.
PMID: 31998472 Free PMC article.
3.
Grant C, Beach TAC, Hogg-Johnson, Chivers M, Howarth SJ. 
Meas Phys Educ Exerc Sci. 2019 Dec 24;24(1):81-92. doi: 10.1080/1091367X.2019.1707680

Listen as Dr. Cassidy and I discuss his career in chiropractic, research, and hear his thoughts on a variety of important issues including the powerful role of psychosocial factors on health.  Dr. Cassidy is a Professor of Epidemiology and Health Policy at the Dalla Lana School of Public Health at the University of Toronto. He is also an Adjunct Globalization Professor at the Faculty of Health at the University of Southern Denmark. He began his career as a chiropractor (CMCC 1975) and later obtained graduate degrees in Surgery (MSc University of Saskatchewan), Pathology (PhD University of Saskatchewan) and Injury Epidemiology (DrMedSc Karolinska Institute, Sweden). His past appointments include Assistant Professor of Surgery and Rehabilitation Medicine at the University of Saskatchewan (1994-1999), Associate Professor of Public Health and Medicine at the University of Alberta (2000-2003), Senior Scientist at the Toronto Western Hospital Research Institute (2003-2017) and Professor of Sport Science and Clinical Biomechanics at the University of Southern Denmark (2011-2016).

His research focus is injury epidemiology, neurotrauma, musculoskeletal disorders and evidence-based health care and policy. He has published over 300 research papers and chapters in textbooks over his career, including papers in the New England Journal of Medicine, the British Medical Journal, Annals of Internal Medicine, JAMA Psychiatry and the Archives of Physical and Rehabilitation Medicine to name a few. He is particularly interested in the psychosocial determinants of injury recovery and long-term consequences of injury.

View Dr. Cassidy’s research at researchgate.net.

We talked about a lot of research articles, too many to list in the show notes.  You can see a listing of Dr. Cassidy’s research at pubmed.com.

Dr. Cynthia Long and I discuss the importance of statistics in chiropractic science. We talk about the role of statistics in research, when to involve a biostatistician into the research process, and the top statistical terms (such as power, effect size, significance, confidence intervals and many more). Dr. Long is Professor and Director of Research at Palmer College of Chiropractic, Davenport, IA, and Director of the Office of Data Management & Biostatistics (ODM) at the Palmer Center of Chiropractic Research (PCCR). She holds an M.S. degree in statistics from Iowa State University and a Ph.D. in biostatistics from the University of Iowa. Dr. Long joined the faculty of the PCCR at its inception in 1995 and contributed to developing PCCR’s research infrastructure, in particular creating the ODM to support the research design, data management and data analysis needs of PCCR research investigators. Since 2000, she has directed the ODM staff as data coordinating centers for 15 on-site, off-site and multi-site federally-funded clinical trials of chiropractic care. Dr. Long is the principal investigator of “Expanding Evidence-Based Clinical Practice and Research Across the Palmer College of Chiropractic”, a grant awarded by the National Center of Complementary and Integrative Health of the National Institutes of Health. She is also the director of Palmer’s MS in Clinical Research where she teaches 10 credit hours of biostatistics. She is on the editorial boards of JMPT and JCCA and has just completed a 3-year term as an elected member of the American Statistical Association board of directors.

Take a look at Dr. Long’s publications at researchgate.

Here is a link to Dr. Long’s webpage at Palmer Center for Chiropractic Research.

Dr. Long mentioned the following paper in the show “Illustrating risk difference and number needed to treat from a randomized controlled trial of spinal manipulation for cervicogenic headache“.