Nov. 3, Toronto, ON – The 2009 “Annual Conference on Advancements in Chiropractic”, held on Oct. 24-25 at the Canadian Memorial Chiropractic College (CMCC), featured talks that showcased the research accomplishments of staff and affiliates of the college, with an eye on how this painstaking work will impact chiropractic practice and the progress of the profession.

Saturday, October 24 was a full day of detailed and informative presentations, introduced by Dr. John Triano, Dean of Graduate Education and Research Programs at CMCC.  In his introduction, Triano reminded attendees that not all pain is due to musculoskeletal problems and that other pathological possibilities need to be considered, as well, when approaching patient care.  He went on to conclude that that it is the DC’s duty to care for patients who present for chiropractic treatment, and reiterated the need for informed consent in all cases. 

A wide variety of chiropractic research themes 

The day progressed with speakers such as CMCC’s Dr. Silvano Mior - who reviewed the clinical profiles of patients who access chiropractic, especially in Canada – Dr. Howard Vernon – who talked about challenges in differentiating pain – and Dr. Brian Budgell who evaluated various models for explaining referred somatic pain from internal  disorders.

Dr. Bernadette Murphy, currently an associate professor in the Faculty of Health at the University of Ontario, Institute of Technology, discussed how altered afferent input might reorganize central processing to result in altered function – ie, neuroplasticity - and how this neuroadaptative potential might be harnessed through rehabilitative exercises and/or a manipulation intervention.  Murphy began this work at the University of Auckland in New Zealand, where she worked with Dr. Heidi Haavik, also a presenter at the symposium.  Haavik expanded on the theme of Murphy’s talk to integrate the concepts behind subluxation into the area of neuroplasticity.

Visiting guest speakers

Not all speakers at the event were local doctors.

From the University of Arizona, Department of Family and Community Medicine – but also an adjunct professor at CMCC - Dr. Heather Tick spoke from her perspective as a functional medicine practitioner to offer attendees a nutritional approach to pain reduction as well as refreshing strategies in healthy aging medicine.

From Cleveland Chiropractic College, Dr. Cheryl Hawk discussed the evidence behind chiropractic for non-musculoskeletal conditions.

From the University of Utah, Dr. Jeffrey Hebert used a treatment-based classification approach to identify subgroups of individuals with back and leg pain.

An assistant professor at the University of Pittsburgh, Dr. Michael Schneider asked chiropractors to keep upper cervical spine instability resulting in hyper- versus hypomobility in mind in cases that do not respond well to manipulation and/or exercise, and where there is a history of C-Spine trauma and/or chronic neck pain/headache/dizziness.  Dr. Schneider also suggested methods – including modified imaging techniques – for pinpointing this diagnosis in order to more effectively target treatment strategy. 

Colloquium on Subluxation

On Sunday October 25, the presenters were joined by Drs. Philip Bolton and Marion McGregor, and also by Alice Kwong, for CMCC’s first-ever chiropractic colloquium, titled “Reconciling Subluxation and Science”.  The colloquium began with presentations by the researchers wherein the various language and models for subluxation were outlined, epidemiology was overviewed, biomechanical evidence for subluxation was discussed and a variety of processes such as pain and visceral responses to spinal activity were examined in the context of subluxation.

The last segment of the colloquium was an open discussion between the panel of researchers and presenters - joined by world-renown chiropractor and neurologist Dr. Scott Haldemann – and the audience.

This dialogue raised questions about:

• terminology and its impact on the survival of the profession,
• how multiple definitions may or may not help matters,
• the need to uphold various distinct characteristics of chiropractic
• the need to continue to try and discover the mechanisms behind clinically observed phenomena,
• the role of understanding adjustments better versus the importance of refining the definition of subluxation in the development of chiropractic, and
• the importance of tackling these questions together as an open-minded, unified profession.  

Dr. Jean Moss was called upon at the end of the event to say a few words.  Dr. Moss  thanked the organizers of the symposium, the presenters as well as attendees, and took a few moments to acknowledge the progress that chiropractic research at CMCC has made. 

The event organizers wish, at this time, to also acknowledge the role of the sponsors for the event:  ObusForme was the Gold Sponsor for the day and Canadian Chiropractor Magazine lent its support as the media sponsor. (We were grateful for the opportunity to participate in this well-organized, informative and important event.)