| Our hypothesis is that chiropractic makes you less stiff and less in pain. So instead of just looking at pain measures, which we still look at, all it takes is to adjust your thinking. If you’re thinking of removing pain, why don’t you also think about restoring function. Pain, then, becomes a secondary outcome measure. Restoring function, even if some pain remains, has become the primary focus of musculoskeletal disorders treatment, across all the professions that deal with these problems. Because I can tell you, these older patients are all in pain, but they say, “I don’t let it stop me.” They score really well on the pain disability index even though they have a lot of chronic pain. So while they do have pain, they don’t have as much disability as you might expect, because they “just do it.”
So what you’re describing here is a research project and a research niche in the making, one that is focused on prevention and health promotion and is among the first emerging bodies of research by a chiropractic institution that is truly and specifically focused on prevention.
No one has been looking at improving function and removing risk factors for falls. It needs to be done and we’ve set out to do it
What other projects are Cleveland researchers pursuing?
At our Los Angeles campus, Dr. James Brantingham is also filling a very important niche with his focus on extremity research, which is also in very short supply in the profession. He’s done several studies on knee problems and is currently working on a grant-funded project on hip osteoarthritis. Since hip and knee problems are among the most important causes of limited mobility in the elderly, these studies not only meet an important gap in chiropractic research, but are also in keeping with our focus on increasing older adults’ ability to remain independent.
In Kansas City, we’re going to be very busy with the various aspects of this falls and balance project. They loved us so much at the fitness center that now we’re going to go to an independent living center and do the balance study there. Hopefully we’ll also send them over here to the college to take part in the function assessment. We’ve hired Dr. Katherine Smith, an additional person, to treat the patients.
Also, we have Practice-based Research, which we’ve folded into this project. We’re asking all of the participating field doctors to do a timed up and go with all patients 65 and above who come into their offices. Just to do whatever they normally do, but add the timed up and go. The patient will sign an informed consent and it’s all ready to go. Then, whenever the participating field doctor would normally reassess that patient (at six weeks or eight weeks), they’ll just do the timed up and go again. So these doctors can be part of our project. It’s a wonderful way to involve alumni and other interested chiropractors.
Daniel Redwood, DC, the interviewer, is Editor-in-Chief of Health Insights Today. |
