The ICSM featured speakers and invited panels presented important information towards an understanding of the movements in health care reform and the placement of the chiropractic profession in the changing fabric of health policy. Economist Pran Manga, PhD, principal investigator in the Ontario inquiry into placement of chiropractic in that government's delivery system, was the featured keynote speaker. In his presentation, Dr. Manga strongly defended the conclusion drawn in his report, The Effectiveness and Cost-Effectiveness of Chiropractic Management of Low-Back Pain. He openly challenged his detractors.
A special invited panel discussing the methodology and preliminary findings of the federal guidelines initiative for the management of back pain included Dr. Stan Bigos, chairman of the Back Pain Guidelines' Panel of the Agency for Health Care Policy and Research, and the two chiropractic representatives of that effort, Drs. Scott Haldeman and John Triano. The speakers shared some insight into the strength of the evidence for chiropractic procedures compared to other conservative measures. However, they could not report details of their recommendations, since the document is not due to be released until early fall. It was generally agreed that these guidelines could have significant impact on the chiropractic profession.
The featured panel discussion of the weekend was on the topic of chiropractic and primary health care. Selected experts included: Daniel Cherkin, PhD; Arnold Cianciulli, DC; Ian Coulter, PhD; William Dallas, DC; Craig Nelson, DC; Ronald Rupert, DC; Tilden Sokoloff, DPM, DC; and Gerald Weis, DC. The panelists had differing opinions on the placement of chiropractors in the primary health care market, especially with the advancing changes in the managed care industry. The dialogue was a clash of "ideal" versus the "real," but what makes this debate more critical is the short amount of time that our profession has to respond to the public mandates for reforms. This is a topic rich for future discussion and debate, especially with the changes in the health care delivery, but also because of some of the changes in chiropractic education. The Consortium's CORE programs were designed to acquaint practicing doctors on two important issues: informed consent in the chiropractic office; understanding and contributing to the chiropractic science literature.
Typical of the ICSM and CORE programs were the chiropractic scientific papers through platform and poster presentations. The quality of this year's original science has been hailed by many as "worldly" and "excellent" in quality. The chiropractic scientific community can be proud of this year's contributions. The subjects covered in the papers ranged from primary care issues to biomechanics, and basic science to outcome measures. Abstracts of these papers are found in the published conference proceedings, which can be purchased from the FCER.
Eight of the scientific papers were judged to be of exceptional quality and the principal authors awarded cash prizes. Because of the excellent quality of the papers, judging was difficult. Notable supporters of chiropractic research contributed to the cash awards:
Basic Research Award (Sponsored by the Journal of Manipulative and Physiological Therapeutics)
J Gal, W Herzog, G Kawchuk, P Conway, Y-T Zhang. Relative movements of vertebral bodies that accompany cracking sounds (cavitation) during manipulative thrusts to unembalmed post-rigor human cadavers.
Outcome Measures Award
(Sponsored by Leander Technologies, Inc.)
M Haas, G Jacobs, R Raphael, K Petzing. Responsiveness and applicability of two functional disability questionnaires in the chiropractic teaching and clinic setting.
Observational Studies Award
(Sponsored by Foot Levelers, Inc.)
J Hsieh, Y Zhu, S Haldeman, A Starr, P Wu, H Fu, C Zhen. Spinal manipulative therapy on low back pain: A quantitative study cerebral potentials evoked by magnetic stimulation to paraspinal muscles.
Imaging Studies Award
(Sponsored by Dynamic Chiropractic)
C Hagino, M McGregor, S O'Connor, L Papernick. Intra and interexaminer reliability of lumbar endplate and disc angle measurements for a broad spectrum of examiner skill levels and radiograph qualities.
photo #1: Dr. Carol Hagino receives her award from Dynamic Chiropractic.
Other Awards
- M McGregor, S Mior, H Shannon, C Hagino, B Shut. The clinical utility of cervical flexion-extension x-rays in detecting increased intersegmental motion. -- (Sponsored by OUM & Associates)
- C Hawk, M Dusio. A survey of 492 U.S. chiropractors on primary care and prevention-related issues. -- (Sponsored by National Chiropractic Mutual Insurance Company)
- G Cramer, J Howe, WV Glenn, R Dorsett, K Gonaware, J Dellarippa, J Rongaus, M Aoys. The size of the lumbar intervertebral foramina as determined from horizontal images of magnetic resonance imaging scans. -- (Sponsored by Journal of Chiropractic Technique)
- JJ Triano, D Skogsbergh, M McGregor, S Mior, L Sportelli. Biomechanical parameters of skill in lumbar SMT. -- (Sponsored by Topics in Clinical Chiropractic)
FCER announced the "Researcher of the Year" award during the conference (see front page article). This is an award of distinction, recognizing a person in the arena of chiropractic science. This year's recipient was Dr. Joanne Nyiendo, research director at Western States College of Chiropractic. Dr. Nyiendo is recognized for her very important work in outcomes research and her contributions to the chiropractic research community through her service in the Consortium for Chiropractic Research.
Certainly there is a strong statement to be made for the accomplishments of women in chiropractic as evidenced by this year's science symposia: not only a proud moment for Dr. Nyiendo for her recognition, but also for the primary and secondary authors of the award-winning papers. There were at least 10 other women who were honored for their achievements. Especially noteworthy names to several of the winning papers were Drs. Marion McGregor and Carol Hagino. Congratulations to the women in chiropractic research.
The chiropractic research community now prepares for another opportunity to share its science to the world. The next chiropractic conference where science will be on display will be the Centennial Celebration in Washington, D.C., during the first week of July, 1995. It is anticipated that there will be more opportunities to report results of current research, gain new knowledge of what we do, and to recognize our scientists for their achievements.