Dr. Robert Trager is a chiropractic physician and researcher at University Hospitals, in Cleveland, Ohio, in the United States. In this episode, we discuss his research covering a variety of clinically focused topics at the intersection of medicine and chiropractic, ranging from case reports to health service utilization. Dr. Trager first became interested in research when he was an undergraduate student at Northeastern University, where took part in a co-op program that got him hands-on experience in a research laboratory. He then attended Logan University, graduating in 2013, and has since practiced in an integrative healthcare setting.
Here are the articles we discuss in this episode. We also talked about the article that Dr. Brian Anderson and I discussed on episode 61 of the podcast.
https://chiropracticscience.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/Dr.Trager.jpg420300Dean Smith, DC, PhDhttps://chiropracticscience.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/chiroscience-logo-website-title-300x167.jpgDean Smith, DC, PhD2023-01-09 11:01:322023-01-09 11:01:33063- Dr. Robert Trager Discusses Spinal Manipulation, Lumbar Discectomy and Case Reports
Dr. Lindsay Gorrell and I discuss her research regarding spinal manipulation, the vertebral artery and reporting of adverse events. Lindsay Gorrell completed her clinical training in Chiropractic and a Master of Research (The effect of manual and instrument applied cervical spine manipulation on mechanical neck pain) at Macquarie University, Australia. She then completed a PhD (Musculoskeletal Biomechanical and Electromyographical Responses Associated with Spinal Manipulation) under the supervision of Drs Walter Herzog and Jay Triano at The University of Calgary, Canada. She is now working as an International Research Fellow at the Balgrist University Hospital, University of Zurich, Switzerland. Lindsay is also studying a Master of Science in Medical Education at The University of Oxford, England.
Lindsay’s research interests are centered on investigating: i) the delivery of spinal manipulation; ii) the physiological responses and clinical outcomes occurring in response to spinal manipulation; and iii) the safety of the manual therapy. This requires different experimental approaches depending on the research question of interest. Most recently, she has published on the relationship between the amount of strain experienced by the vertebral artery, the 3D movements of the head and neck and the forces applied by clinicians during cervical spine manipulation and physiological responses to cervical and upper thoracic spinal manipulation. Lindsay has maintained part-time clinical practice since graduation.
Dr. Brian Anderson DC, MPH, MS, PhD is an Assistant Professor within the Palmer Center for Chiropractic Research (PCCR) at the Palmer College of Chiropractic, where his research is focused on evaluation of nonpharmacological spine care delivery in the US. His background includes 15 years of clinical experience as a licensed chiropractic physician in a variety of settings, including private practice, a hospital-based integrative medicine center, and a chiropractic academic teaching clinic. He has also been an educator for the past 15 years, teaching courses at the undergraduate, graduate, and post-graduate level. With a passion to better understand and contribute to conservative spine care research, he enrolled in a PhD program in Health Sciences in 2015 with a focus on Health Services Research. His dissertation was titled “A Secondary Analysis Of Insurance Claims Data To Determine The Association Between Provider Type And Treatment Escalation In Musculoskeletal Disorders”, which is a topic he continues to investigate currently. In this interview, we discuss his journey from chiropractor to researcher, and several of his publications.
After graduating with his PhD in 2019, he joined the faculty at the Palmer Center for Chiropractic Research, where he participated in a pilot clinical study as a treating clinician, developed relationships with several research collaborators, and made progress towards developing his own research program.
Dr. Anderson’s research has been presented at many academic conferences, for which he has received several best paper awards. He is currently a co-investigator and primary analyst on a R15 grant titled “Spinal Manipulative Therapy vs Prescription Drug Therapy for Care of Aged Medicare Beneficiaries with Neck Pain”. He was recently awarded a 2-year Loan Repayment Award through the National Center for Complementary & Integrative Health (NCCIH), and also participated in the Fall 2022 cohort of the US Bone & Joint Young Investigators Initiative.
https://chiropracticscience.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/DrBrianAnderson.jpg500400Dean Smith, DC, PhDhttps://chiropracticscience.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/chiroscience-logo-website-title-300x167.jpgDean Smith, DC, PhD2022-11-17 16:31:562022-11-17 16:31:57060- Dr. Brian Anderson Discusses Chiropractic, Treatment Escalation, Medical Services
In this interview, Dr. Scali discusses with me the upper cervical spine and myodural bridge (connective tissue between suboccipital muscles and the cervical spinal dura mater). Dr. Frank Scali grew up in Valley Stream, Long Island, New York, and studied Neuroscience at Stony Brook University. In 2009, he received his Doctorate in Chiropractic at Logan University in Chesterfield, Missouri. During his time in medical school, Dr. Frank Scali professionally prosected cadaveric specimens for Gray’s Anatomy and illustrated for multiple journals and textbooks, including the Oxford Handbook of Bariatric Surgery. While attending medical school, he published multiple non-variant anatomical findings in the medical literature and served as an Ad Hoc Reviewer in Journals such as The Spine Journal, The Anatomical Record, Surgical and Radiological Anatomy, and others. In 2018, he graduated with his MD from AUC School of Medicine with fifty-four publications, including textbook contributions and a patent for a medical device.
Dr. Scali is board certified in Chiropractic and Medicine. His current title is Assistant Professor of Medical Education and Anatomy at the California University of Science and Medicine. At CUSM, Dr. Scali serves as the Director of the ATLAS Lab Center, is the Director of the USMLE Board Preparation, and is the Course Director for MSK/Derm, Surgical Anatomy, and the Step 1/2CK Board Prep course. He was inducted into the Sigma Xi Scientific Research & Honor Society in 2020 and serves on the Editorial Board for the Journal of Medicine since 2019. As Assistant Professor of Medical Education, Dr. Scali has achieved dozens of teaching awards in Medical Foundations, MSK/Derm, Neuroscience, Reproductive Medicine, and Medical Board Preparation courses. Because of his innovative teaching style, in 2021, Dr. Scali became the inaugural recipient of the Robert Suskind & Leslie Lewinter-Suskind Pre-Clinical Faculty of the Year award.
Dr. Carlos Gevers joins me to discuss mechanisms of spinal manipulation, particularly as they relate to central sensitization and neuroinflammation. He also shares a study on Tumor Necrosis Factor-Alpha in Urine Samples of Patients With Chronic Low Back Pain Undergoing Chiropractic Care.
Carlos Gevers Montoro is a second-generation chiropractor. He graduated from Life Chiropractic College West in 2003 as Valedictorian and the recipient of the Clinical Excellence Citation award. After practicing for a few years in Spain and France, he was instrumental in the opening of the Madrid College of Chiropractic (MCC), where he still lectures. His contributions at the MCC were mostly related to the clinical sciences. In parallel, he served for seven years as the President of the Spanish Chiropractic Association, being involved in chiropractic politics and policy at the national and international level.
In 2018 he decided to switch gears and take a completely new path in the research arena. He started his PhD in Pain Neurosciences at UQTR – University of Montreal joint program under the supervision of Prof. Mathieu Piché. His PhD studies are partially funded, by a prestigious grant from the Government of Quebec. His line of research and his first publications are mostly focused on mechanisms of spinal manipulation, particularly as they relate to central sensitization and neuroinflammation. These two phenomena seem to be strongly implicated in the development of chronic pain syndrome and other conditions.
In this episode, Dr. Meier discusses how people move differently in the presence of (or in anticipation of) pain. Changes in motor control may play an important role in musculoskeletal pain. His lab uses a cross-disciplinary approach that combines neuroscience and movement biomechanics to provide new insights into the role of potential interactions between movement behavior, psychological factors and supraspinal mechanisms in the development and maintenance of persistent low back pain. We’ll touch also on fear avoidance and pain related movement avoidance. Dr. Michael L. Meier is a senior pain researcher and group leader at the Department of Chiropractic Medicine at the University of Zurich. He received his master’s degree in neuropsychology and his doctorate in cognitive neuroscience from the University of Zurich, focusing on the processing of pain and nociception in the brain. In 2019, he received a grant from the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNF) to study the role of movement behavior and cortical processes in the development and persistence of low back pain. A hallmark of his work is linking research from different disciplines such as biomechanics, neuroscience, and psychology, shedding light on novel interacting pathomechanisms underlying persistent low back pain whose pathoanatomical cause is often unclear.
https://chiropracticscience.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/MMeier2021.jpg525350Dean Smith, DC, PhDhttps://chiropracticscience.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/chiroscience-logo-website-title-300x167.jpgDean Smith, DC, PhD2021-09-23 15:46:162021-09-23 15:46:19057- Low Back Pain, The Brain and Movement with Dr. Michael Meier
Dr. William Reed is an Associate Professor in the School of Health Professions, Department of Physical Therapy at University of Alabama at Birmingham. He is the director of the Mechanisms of Spinal Manual Therapy Laboratory. His research is directed towards determining the peripheral and central mechanisms of spinal manipulation (manual therapy) for the treatment of musculoskeletal pain. He is also the Interim Co-Director of the PhD program in Rehabilitation Science at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. Here we discuss some of Dr. William Reed’s research starting with his introduction to research as a chiropractic student in 1994 then we’ll discuss his work with Dr. Joel Pickar, his K01 award topic, and progressing to his latest line of research on characterization of a rat LBP model and spinal mobilization mechanisms.
Martha Funabashi, is a PhD currently working as a clinical research scientist at CMCC. She is also a CARL fellow and the co-lead study coordinator of SafetyNET – an international and multidisciplinary research team to support patient safety among spinal manipulative therapy (SMT) providers. Martha has a Bachelor’s Degree in Physiotherapy and a Master’s Degree in Neuroscience from the University of Sao Paulo – Brazil. She completed her PhD in Rehabilitation Sciences at the University of Alberta under the supervision of Dr. Greg Kawchuk and her post-doctoral fellowship also at the University of Alberta with Dr. Sunita Vohra. Martha’s research interests and passion are on the SMT’s biomechanics, underlying mechanisms, force-time characterization and its safety aspects. Martha has 26 peer-reviewed scientific journal publications, over 40 conference presentations and is on the editorial boards for peer review journals, such as Chiropractic and Manual Therapies. Martha has won research prizes, including the New Investigator Award at the World Federation of Chiropractic Conference 2017 and works in collaboration with emerging and well-known researchers around the world.
Funabashi M, Pohlman KA, Mior S, O’Beirne M, Westaway M, De Carvalho D, El-Bayoumi M, Haig B, Wade DJ, Thiel HW, Cassidy JD, Hurwitz E, Kawchuk GN, Vohra S.
https://chiropracticscience.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/MarthaFunabashi.jpg420300Dean Smith, DC, PhDhttps://chiropracticscience.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/chiroscience-logo-website-title-300x167.jpgDean Smith, DC, PhD2019-05-02 16:12:372019-05-02 16:26:32045- Dr. Martha Funabashi Discusses the Biomechanics and Safety of Spinal Manipulation
Geoffrey Bove, DC, PhD, and I discuss his research regarding inflammation within peripheral nerves, chiropractic principles, manual therapies, repetitive motion disorders and much more. Dr. Bove is a graduate of Hampshire College, Canadian Memorial Chiropractic College, and the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. He is currently a professor at the University of New England, in Biddeford Maine (USA). Dr. Bove’s research has focused on the effect of inflammation on small diameter axons within peripheral nerves, a topic directed by founding chiropractic principles. He also studies the effects of manual therapies on common painful conditions, such as repetitive motion disorders and postoperative visceral adhesions.
https://chiropracticscience.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/DrGeoffreyBove.jpg453400Dean Smith, DC, PhDhttps://chiropracticscience.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/chiroscience-logo-website-title-300x167.jpgDean Smith, DC, PhD2018-10-04 00:02:542018-10-04 00:08:38039- Inflammation of Peripheral Nerves, Chiropractic Principles, Manual Therapies and More with Dr. Geoffrey Bove
Ian Coulter, PhD, is a senior health policy analyst at the RAND Corporation, where he holds the Samueli Institute Chair in Policy for Integrative Medicine. He is a full professor in the School of Dentistry, UCLA, in the Division of Public Health and Community Dentistry; a professor at the Pardee RAND Graduate School; and a research professor at the Southern California University of Health Sciences.
Dr. Coulter has published over 200 articles, chapters and books. He is the past Vice President for Integrative Medicine at the Samueli Institute. He has had numerous grants from NIH and the DoD. For the past 20 years he has taught ethics and research ethics at UCLA and to various professional bodies throughout the United States. He currently teaches Professional Ethics/Research Ethics in the Pediatric Dentist Residency Program at the UCLA School of Dentistry.
Dr. Coulter was born in New Zealand and holds degrees in sociology from the University of Canterbury (B.A., M.A. Honors) and the London School of Economics & Political Science (Ph.D.) and an honorary doctorate in humanities from the Southern California University of Health Sciences. He was a Pew Fellow at the RAND/ University of California at Los Angeles, Center for Health Policy Study from which he received a certificate in health policy analysis. Additional qualifications include a diploma in educational management from the Institute of Educational Management, Harvard University. He is also a past President of the Canadian Memorial Chiropractic College.
And…more specifically regarding his research that relates to this interview, Dr. Coulter was an author of the recent JAMA article on adding chiropractic care to usual medical care, and lead author on the recent Spine Journal systematic review on spinal manipulation and chronic LBP. In addition, he is currently lead investigator of the CERC project (funded at over $8 million) to investigate chiropractors and their patients for Clinician Based Appropriateness, Outcomes Based Appropriateness, Patient Preferences Appropriateness and Resource Utilization Based Appropriateness.
How to cite this episode:
Smith DL. Chiropractic Science: Dr. Ian Coulter Discusses Research in JAMA, Appropriateness and Contextual Factors in Chiropractic Care [internet]. Eaton, Ohio; July 10, 2018. Podcast: 1:19:47. Available from: https://chiropracticscience.com/podcast/driancoulter/
Research discussed in this episode with Dr. Coulter include:
https://chiropracticscience.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/IanCoulter.jpg375300Dean Smith, DC, PhDhttps://chiropracticscience.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/chiroscience-logo-website-title-300x167.jpgDean Smith, DC, PhD2018-07-11 19:41:052020-10-30 22:37:57035- Dr. Ian Coulter Discusses Research in JAMA, Appropriateness and Contextual Factors in Chiropractic Care