The Cochrane Back Review Group

The Cochrane Back Review Group is one of 50 review groups that produces
and maintains systematic reviews on the effects of health care.  The
goal is to provide the most up-to-date information to inform clinical
decisions at the individual, institutional and policy levels.

The Cochrane Back Review Group is one of 50 review groups that produces and maintains systematic reviews on the effects of health care.  The goal is to provide the most up-to-date information to inform clinical decisions at the individual, institutional and policy levels. The scope of the Back Review Group is primary and secondary prevention and treatment of neck and back pain and other spinal disorders, excluding inflammatory diseases and fractures. It is hosted by the Institute for Work and Health (www.iwh.on.ca), an independent, not-for-profit research organization whose mission is to conduct and share research with workers, labour, employers, clinicians and policy-makers to promote, protect and improve the health of working people. The Back Review Group also receives funding from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research and the Canadian Agency for Drugs and Technologies in Health.

The back review editorial team is comprised of two co-ordinating editors, a managing editor, a librarian, an editorial assistant, an editorial board and an advisory board that provides peer review. Completed protocols and reviews are published quarterly in The Cochrane Library, which is available by subscription online or on a CD. Abstracts and plain language summaries are freely available by visiting www.thecochranelibrary.com  (look for us under “By Review Group”) or the Back Review Group website www.cochrane.iwh.on.ca.  Our authors, editors, and peer referees are international, multidisciplinary practitioners and researchers in the neck and back pain field. It is the policy of The Cochrane Collaboration to update reviews every two years and to withdraw them if they are out of date.

The Cochrane Collaboration has just released a new Handbook for Systematic Reviews of Interventions (February 2008) and a new version of the software (March 2008) used for producing reviews.  There are several new features in both the handbook and the software that have been developed to make our reviews more transparent and user friendly, and which will be rolled-out over the next year.

The Back Review Group welcomes consumers, authors and referees to the group.  I invite you to join online to receive periodic newsletters that will keep you abreast of initiatives in The Cochrane Collaboration in general, and the Back Review Group in particular.

The Canadian Chiropractic Association (CCA) is an affiliate member of the Canadian Cochrane Network and Center (CCN/C) and three chiropractic organizations provide funding to the CCN/C – that is, the CCA the Canadian Chiropractic Examining Board and the Canadian Chiropractic Protective Agency.

For a full updated list of our published reviews and protocols, please visit www.cochrane.iwh.on.ca . Many of the reviews have been incorporated into international guidelines for the management of neck and back pain. I can be reached at vpennick@iwh.on.ca, or by phone during regular business hours at 416-441-0291, extension 2158. Please do not hesitate to contact me, should you have any questions. 
 *Portions of this article have been reproduced, with permission, from the Journal of the Canadian Chiropractic Association, Vol. 52, No. , June 2008.