A guidelines development committee consisting of members of the Canadian Chiropractic Association (CCA) and the Canadian Federation of Chiropractic Regulatory Boards (CFCRB) has succeeded in developing a series of chiropractic clinical practice guidelines on the treatment of a specific type of neck pain. Titled "Evidence-Based Treatment of Adult Neck Pain Not Due to Whiplash" and published in the September 2005 issue of the Journal of the Canadian Chiropractic Association, the guidelines represent the latest in the chiropractic approach to the care of adults with acute or chronic neck pain, with particular attention paid to the treatment aspect of chiropractic care.
In a statement on the CCA's Web site, the guidelines' authors emphasize that the document should not be considered "a standard of care or practice" for the treatment of neck pain. Rather, it comports a large body of previously uncollected information on the subject into a reasonably sized, user-friendly format, which leads to the conclusion that "manipulation is a validated part of chiropractic care."
"This CPG focuses on treatment, and does not explore fully the available systems of assessment," they write.
"The recommendations in this CPG were made with the caveat that it is each chiropractor's responsibility to implement the appropriate risk-management procedures when implementing the treatment recommendations."
In all, the guidelines include more than three dozen "explicit practice recommendations" related to the treatment and risk management of non-whiplash-related adult neck pain. In addition, the guidelines list 10 "unimodal treatments" that appear to offer relief from neck pain, along with seven "multimodal treatments" that provide some measure of relief.
Upon publication, Dynamic Chiropractic contacted the CCA and the CFCRB to comment on the importance of the neck pain guidelines and their potential impact on the chiropractic profession. In response, the following statement was submitted by Dr. Wanda Lee MacPhee, president of the CFCRB.
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Guidelines Also Available Online
In addition to appearing in the Journal of the Canadian Chiropractic Association, the complete version of "Evidence-Based Treatment of Adult Neck Pain Not Due to Whiplash" is available online for practitioners to review free of charge. To access the guidelines, visit www.ccachiro.org/cpg to read both the published and unpublished draft versions.
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